Birkenhead business still suffering from landslide

A Birkenhead businessman is frustrated by what he sees as a lack of action from Auckland Council in repairing the damage caused by a nearby landslide last year.

Willem van der Velde, owner of Dutch Delight, said little had been done by the council to resolve issues that the landslide caused five months ago

Mr van der Velde’s primary concern revolved around parking spaces for his customers.

A carpark on Rawene Street was wiped out by the slip, and with it went his customers' main parking area.

As a result, Mr van der Velde has experienced a decrease in customers, and attributes this to a tough stance by the council on drivers parking their vehicles in restricted parking areas, despite there being nowhere else for them to go.

“[Auckland Council] still sends somebody out to watch so that people don’t park longer than 60 minutes, and I don’t think that’s fair because there are no parking spaces where you can park the whole day,” Mr van der Velde said.

“There are people sitting in my restaurant, and they say, ‘Oh yeah, I’d really love to have stayed, but we can’t do it’.

“They still leave those signs on – the 30 minute and 60 minute signs – and I don’t understand why they don’t do anything about that.

“I asked many times ‘Why don’t you take the signs away? Maybe only for this period, while there is something going on with the landslip’, but they won’t do it.”

Birkenhead Brewing Company spokesperson Brad Boult supported Mr van der Velde’s claims regarding the difficulty of parking in the area.

“From a staffing point of view, it becomes very difficult at times for parking,” Mr Boult said.

“The staff have to park quite a distance compared to what it used to be like. The carpark used to be really good, but it’s just changed the flow.”

Auckland Transport media relations manager Mark Hannan dismissed Mr van der Velde’s concerns, saying there was “adequate parking in Birkenhead”.

The landslide wiped out a Rawene Street carpark used by customers of the Dutch Delight restaurant. Photo: Alex McLeod

Mr Hannan said the parking restrictions at issue were re-introduced last month to “improve turnover and availability” in the affected areas in Birkenhead.

Along with these restrictions, Auckland Council has also converted taxi stands into shared parking spaces, and provided the public with access to private carparks.

However, these alternatives remained unsatisfactory for Birkenhead locals, who had started searching for solutions themselves, Mr van der Velde said.

“There are a few things done, but that is done by the Birkenhead community [rather] than by Auckland Transport or the Auckland Council,” he said.