Tēnā koe,

Thank you for contacting us. Your request has been logged under the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

Council is ordinarily required to respond to requests under the Act no
later than 20 working days after receipt of a request. However, under
section 2(1) of the Act, the period from 20 December 2024 to 10 January
2025 is not counted for the purposes of calculating working days. While we
will make every effort to respond to your request as soon as possible,
there may potentially be a delay in responding to your request over the
Christmas period.

You can also call us freephone 0800 932 463. Please quote Request No.
OIA241474 if you require any further information.

If you would like to notify us about anything further regarding this
matter, you can reply to this email.

Ngā mihi,

Whangarei District Council

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Tçnâ koe David,

 

I refer to your request of December 4, 2025  for further Information about
“Pohe Island Playground”. Your request was referred to council’s Parks and
Recreation Department for consideration to the following questions and
requests:

 

Information Requested:

o All communications between Fiona Pratt and Playground Centre prior to
February 21st, 2024.

The Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act allows any
member of the public to request official information held by council.
However, for the Act to apply, the information must be held by council;
there is no obligation for council to form an opinion or create new
information simply to answer a request.  This aspect of your request is
refused under section 17(e) of the Act on the basis that the document
alleged to contain the information requested does not exist or, despite
reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found

 

o A copy of the annual playground inspections report mentioned by Dean
Hawkins in his email to Nigel Jeremy on 21st February 2024.
Additionally, please provide any prior and subsequent annual
playground inspection reports for the Pohe Island Playground. – Please
see attached

 

o Details of all repairs carried out on the playground since the last
communication in your response, between Michal Maddox and Dean Hawkins
on 15th August 2024. – please see attached.

 

Questions

o Have any of the timber poles at Pohe Island Playground been completely
replaced due to the rot?  

No, it has not been deemed necessary

 

o Has any investigation been conducted into the extent of the rot below
the rubber matting

No

 

o Has the playground, and specifically the poles in the flying fox area
identified with rot, been assessed by an engineer to confirm that they
are structurally sound and meet the NZ Building Code?

Specialist from the playground supplier have inspected the poles.  While
there are some borer holes at the surface, the heartwood of the poles is
solid and structurally sound

 

o Can the Council provide assurances to the public that the equipment
with rotten posts meets the requirements of both the NZ playground
safety standards and the NZ Building Code

Following the playground supplier investigations, the supplier was
confident in the structural integrity and have extended the warrantee on
the poles to 15 years.  Based on the assessment of the specialist
playground supplier, Council is confident that the playground meets
playground standards.  Playgrounds generally do not need a building
consent. 

 

 

The material represents our best efforts to locate relevant material.
However, the search process is by no means an exact science and given the
broad scope of your request it is possible that there may be other items
of relevance that have unintentionally been missed in the search.

 

I note that some information has been withheld under section 7(2)(a) of
the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 to protect
the privacy of individuals (this does not include Whangarei District
Council Staff)

 

I hope this information is of some assistance in responding to your
request. If you believe we have not responded appropriately to your
request, you have the right by way of complaint, under section 27(3) of
the Act, to apply to the Ombudsman to seek an investigation and review of
the decision.

 

 

Regards,

Georgina Ellis

Official Information Requests Team  

Whangarei District Council | Te Iwitahi | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148
| [1]www.wdc.govt.nz

WDC Call Centre 09 430 4200

 

[2]WDC - Final email sig

 

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| LGOIMA |
| Request Summary |
| Reference Id: OIA241474 |
| Tracking OIA241474.MJZ |
| Number: |
| Received: 05-Dec-2024 08:03:43 |
| Priority: 3 High |
| Status: Active |
| Stage: Request Assigned |
| Source: NA |
| Address:   |
| Detail: Requesting additional details and clarification re |
| response on Pohe Island Playground.  See Attachments for|
| email. |
| Categorisation |
| Type LGOIMA and Privacy Requests |
| Category Official information |
| Stage Updates |
| Date Completed Stage |
| 05-Dec-2024 Request Assigned |
| 05-Dec-2024 New Request |
| Caller Details |
| Caller ID: 644655 |
| First Name: David |
| Surname: Green |
| Email Address: [3][FOI #29442 email] |
| Address:   |
| Notification Email |
| By: |
| Notify On: Lodgement |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

References

Visible links
1. Link to the Whangarei District Council's website.
http://www.wdc.govt.nz/
3. mailto:[FOI #29442 email]