Iain MacLean

COVID-19 community support

/ / COVID-19, Pukerua Bay Hub

The Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association and Pukerua Bay Hub are working together co-ordinate support within the village for people who will be confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you need help, or think you may need help in the future, please:

Notify us that you need help

We have created a network of street groups so we can all support each other and make sure the most vulnerable people have someone who is in contact with them.

We have organised a network of:

  • People who can be a Street Champion in their street to make sure everyone who might need help has been contacted
  • People who can provide assistance to their neighbours

Street champions

They are co-ordinators and contact points for people needing assistance, and people who are offering to help. If you or anyone you know needs some help, you can contact then through our online ‘Ask For Help’ form.

Here are some questions to consider and to ask neighbours:

  • Would you like a daily phone call from a neighbour?
  • Might you need help with urgent shopping and medical supplies?
  • Will you be able to get any medical attention you might need?
  • Do you have other concerns you would like to talk to someone about?
  • Do you have supplies of pet food and have you arranged for dogs to be walked if you become unwell? ( SPCA are reminding us to plan for the care of our pets. Dogs and cats cannot spread or catch this virus)
  • Are you able to do shopping or pick up medical supplies for neighbours? What else can we do to support each other in our neighbourhood?
  • Please make contact with me by phone or email. I will not share contact details with anybody else even in our street. If you are able to offer help, or if you need help, contact me and I will facilitate things.
  • We are not recommending you make any personal contact but communicate by phone or email only.
  • Supermarkets: please register with your supermarket for ordering and delivery of groceries.
  • Pharmacies: we suggest that you arrange for payment by internet banking so people collecting things for you (doorstop delivery) are not involved in payment.

(Thanks to Plimmerton RA for these questions. Feel free to add your own.)

COVID-19 community support Read More »

Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association — 2019 Annual Report of the Committee

/ / Annual Reports, RA /

The Residents Association has made significant progress on two of its major projects this year, and represented the community’s interests in a number of forums and with Porirua City Council.

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Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association — 2019 Annual Report of the CommitteeRead More »

Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association — 2019 Annual Report of the Committee Read More »

Muri Station history taking shape

/ / He Ara Pukerua, History

You might have noticed that the old shelter building on the southbound platform of the former Muri railway station has a new coat of paint and is looking pretty flash. This is thanks to the Greater Wellington Regional Council, which is handing ownership of the building over to the Residents Association. It’s the culmination of a long process that began when GWRC closed the station in 2011.

The plan is to make it part of He Ara Pukerua heritage project, and it will have the Pukerua Bay railway history on display in the shed. In the meantime, we have a temporary sign…

Temporary heritage sign on Muri Station shelter.
It was installed by our friend Bill Inge, Village Projects Coordinator from Porirua City Council.

Muri Station history taking shape Read More »

Replacement retaining wall along coast road

/ / Coastal, Road safety


The NZTA contractors have been busy little beavers lately, fixing the debris fence and retaining wall above Brendon Beach. Now, they’re about to start on the retaining wall on the sea side of the layby near the Three Sisters Rocks.

A new crib wall is being built on the seaward side of the lane between the two laybys to replace the one which has been almost destroyed by storms and constant strong wave action.

  • From Wednesday 10 July for three weeks — weather permitting.
  • Work will be conducted during the day.
  • The laybys and lane will become a worksite and will be closed to traffic.
  • Minimal impact on traffic — all work will be off the road but there will be trucks coming and going.
  • The shared path beside the road will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists throughout the works.

Replacement retaining wall along coast road Read More »

Progress on resolving future hall management

/ / Hall, Meeting

The Pukerua Bay School Board of Trustees (BoT) and the Pukerua Bay Residents Association (PBRA) have met to discuss the future management of our local hall, in an attempt to find a way forward.

We met last Thursday night (22 November) to discuss options for how the hall committee might be involved in the future management of the hall and what role they might have.

The Board outlined its responsibilities as the property manager, and its obligation to develop a policy that reflects those responsibilities and is consistent with the Ministry of Education’s and legal requirements.

The hall committee described the strong feeling of attachment that many people in the community have to the hall, which they have developed over many years of children attending the school, and the hall being the centre of many community events over the past 45 years.

The two groups agreed that everyone in the community shares a guardianship role over the hall and that a relationship between the hall committee and Board should build on that.

We spent quite a bit of time clearing up differences in the interpretation of events in the past 15 months and acknowledged that we could have communicated better over that time.

The administration of the booking system remains a sticking point for the hall committee. They would like to explore other options that reflect their expectations and that would be acceptable to the Board while addressing the Board’s concerns and legal liabilities.

There is genuine goodwill between the two groups to find a way forward. A smaller group of us will continue to meet to find some agreements we can take to the wider group for ratification.

Those present at the meeting were all the members of the BoT, the new school principal Chris Els, deputy principal Andrew Wooster, the Hall Committee and PBRA chair Iain MacLean.

Conor Twyford (BoT) & Iain MacLean (PBRA)

Progress on resolving future hall management Read More »

Good turnout for beach clean up

/ / Coastal, Event

Bags of rubbish collected from beach

A good turnout of locals and friends netted many bags of rubbish from the beach to the south of Pukerua Bay this morning.

The clean up was organised by the Sustainable Coastlines group (thanks Ben, Oliver and the rest of the crew), with the support of Kathmandu.

Around 30 people started from the pou at 10am and heading along towards Wairaka Rock with bags and a determination to strip the beach clear of rubbish.

The group got almost halfway along the coast to Hongoeka and brought back all the rubbish they found, apart from a very long, heavy plastic pipe and a large sheet of plastic that they couldn’t manage along with all the bags. But they did manage to bring back a large plastic float, which took two people to carry.

A lot of the rubbish was small pieces of plastic, often mixed in with the seaweed near the waterline – hard to see, but if you took your time, you could find a lot of it. There were a lot of bottle caps, small wrappers, pieces of string or rope and lids of all sorts. The pieces might seem too small to bother with, but small pieces are the right size for fish and seabirds to try to eat, and therefore dangerous.

Most of it appeared to have washed up on the beach, rather than being dropped there, but it all comes from somewhere – washed down a stormwater drain or blown into the sea from somewhere – so it’s a good reminder that it is just as important to pick up the small pieces of litter as the big pieces.

Well done everyone, and thanks for all the hard work.

Photo of girl signing sheet of paper Signing in before heading out
Photo of gloved hand and piece of green plastic rubbish Some of the pieces of plastic were very small and hard to see
Photo of gloved hand picking up large piece of orange plastic conduit pipe Some of the larger pieces were very obvious
Photo inside bag showing mixture of rubbish Bags filled up quickly with all sizes of rubbish

Photo of two people carrying bags of rubbish by some rocks
Coming back with the booty

Photo of some bags of rubbish, including large plastic items Just some of the rubbish collected
Photo of people sitting on grass and seats eating food The workers enjoying a tasty lunch laid on by the organisers

Good turnout for beach clean up Read More »