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Perspective with Andrew Dickens: Why local news media is so important

Author: Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2026, 5:15pm

So, obviously, this is the night after the Radio Awards, and with all this talk about awards, I’d like to congratulate a winner in my community. His name is Rob Drent. He is the editor and publisher of the Devonport Flagstaff and the Rangitoto Observer on the North Shore of Auckland.

Rob was recently named best senior news journalist at the New Zealand Community Newspaper Awards — and it’s well deserved because he’s good. And I love my local rag. It’s home-delivered, 30-odd pages of local news that you don’t get anywhere else. Rob employs nine people — they’re all locals.

But like all media, it’s a struggle. So in this week’s issue there is an open letter from Rob asking for donations to keep the Devonport Flagstaff on track. You can become a supporter on their website, devonportflagstaff.co.nz, if you believe in local media.

So last night we got the issue. The front-page lead followed an Official Information Act request by Rob. It’s about a long-running saga around a skate park in Narrow Neck. This is the second crack at building it because the council scaled down the size due to ratepayer concerns. So yeah — this is part two.

Rob has found that more than $100,000 has been spent and not a single sod of earth has been turned. Four consultants got $90,000 for designs, renders, geotech and drainage. Another $25,000 was spent on public consultation and internal council advice. So what’s that — $115,000?

Rob’s article goes on to say the new plan still needs resource consent because it’s in a flood zone. Of course it’s in a flood zone — they don’t call Lake Road “Lake Road” for nothing. But it’s a skate park — who cares if it’s in a flood zone? You just sweep it out afterwards.

Anyway, the consultants’ fees — just incredible, eh? Surely it should go to one firm that specialises in skate parks instead of four different outfits. There must be a skate park design you can buy off the shelf.

And while I understand that all the consultants need to make a living and they’re ratepayers too — so they contribute back into the system — you still have to wonder how it’s got so hard, so expensive and so slow.

So thank you, Rob — and thank you to your local media — for showing me the waste happening in my own backyard.