• Auckland Council is comparing two plans to address flooding in Milford by altering Takapuna Golf Course.
• Both plans aim to create a flood retention zone capable of holding 500 million litres of water.
• The final decision will consider affordability, buildability and maintenance, with a report due by July.

A side-by-side comparison of opposing plans to solve an Auckland suburb’s vulnerability to flooding by altering a publicly owned golf course is continuing, with both “measuring up” so far, a suburban leader says.

Milford on Auckland’s North Shore was among the worst affected parts of the city during the 2023 Auckland Anniversary weekend floods, with the suburb left with more category 3 homes, which can’t be lived in, than any other part of the city.

Two young men also died during the floods in neighbouring Wairau Valley. Takapuna Golf Club sits between the largely industrial suburb and Milford.

The stormwater department of the 18-hole golf course site’s owner – Auckland Council – is proposing half the land be turned into a wetland and general recreation area that can also act as a flood reservoir.

Council stormwater department Healthy Waters’ proposal for the month-by-month leased site came after the Government promised funding for flood mitigation, with a final decision on what happens in the hands of the local board or full council.

But after the golf club presented an alternative plan that retains the course’s 18 holes and uses a “dry basin” approach to create a flood retention zone, both ideas are now being looked at by engineers and other experts from Healthy Waters and the club.

The packed hall at Eventfinda Stadium in Wairau Valley on Wednesday, where Auckland Council explained how it was working with the Takapuna Golf Course to find the best plan for flood mitigation in the area. Photo / Corey Fleming

At a public meeting at Eventfinda Stadium in Wairau Valley on Wednesday, Kaipātiki Local Board deputy chairwoman Danielle Grant told the Herald‘s Simon Wilson there was a series of 15 tests the plans must pass.

“And [she said] at this point, deep in the process, both measure up,” Wilson wrote in his Love this City column today.

Greenslade Reserve, in the neighbouring suburb of Northcote, was altered before the 2023 floods to be a sports ground also able to act as a stormwater detention basin, protecting properties from being flooded.

Greenslade Reserve, pictured during the Auckland Anniversary floods, kept floodwaters contained before draining away, as designed.

There were four main criteria for the eventual chosen plan, Healthy Waters sustainable outcomes boss Tom Mansell told the crowd of several hundred residents, golfers, business owners and sport clubs’ representatives at Wednesday’s meeting.

“The first is that the chosen project will be big enough to hold 500 million litres of water – both options will do this,” Wilson wrote of Mansell’s comments.

Four men died during the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods. They were, clockwise from top left: Dave Young, Daniel Newth, David Lenard and Daniel Miller. Newth and Miller both died in Wairau Valley – Newth while kayaking and Miller while trying to help flooded residents.

On Auckland Anniversary weekend in 2023, rainfall totalled 500 million litres. The drains and water management system operated by Healthy Waters can cope with 60 million litres.

The remaining three criteria were affordability, buildability and ability to be maintained, Mansell told the crowd.

A report was due by early July and decisions would follow quickly after.

Healthy Waters and wider council staff heard a range of views at Wednesday’s meeting, from those desperate for a prompt solution amid fears of future floods – there were flood events again at Easter and this month – and those against the golf course being reduced from 18 holes to nine.

“Why didn’t you start from the position of keeping the golf course?” said a man called Simon, to applause.

The council’s “prime consideration from the start” was to “protect life and property”, said council executive Barry Potter, to no applause.

Artist's impression of a new wetland proposed by Healthy Waters on the land currently occupied by the Takapuna Golf Course.

When the floods come: Artist's impression of the new wetland proposed by Healthy Waters on the land currently occupied by the Takapuna Golf Course, showing it in a flooded state.

Another man said if the golf course closed – of which there’d been no suggestion – there would be 60,000 golfers “with nowhere to go”.

He was responding to a North Shore Basketball member who said 5000 kids a week used the stadium, which was out of action for seven months because of damage from the 2023 flooding.

Others worried a wetland would attract biting insects, rubbish and crime, and reduce property values, and were countered by fears of insurance problems in the event of future floods.

“The sports will go,” said Eventfinda chief executive Brian Blake of the prospect future insurance could be denied if another major flood occurred, after insurers paid out millions in 2023.

Everything was moving “way too slowly”, said Anna, who runs the Coffee Lab shop next to the stadium.

“I cannot for the life of me think why you would want to save the golf course when homes and businesses are being ruined.”