5 February, 2026

Mayday sounded over council premises sale

New radio site offered in Henderson

LEFT: Surplus site… The council property at 400 East Coast Rd is being sold
RIGHT: Up in the air… Clive Brumby and fellow North Shore Radio Club member Alastair Emerson outside the council-owned facility that houses the club

North Shore Radio Club says the valuable role it plays in emergency communications will be jeopardised by an under-the-radar planned sale of its clubrooms by Auckland Council.
The club has been housed for 28 years in a council building at 400 East Coast Rd, Sunnynook, but a council property review found the building surplus to requirements.
Council staff moved out last week and while the club remains on a month-by-month arrangement, it has been told it will have to leave when the property is sold, likely later this year.
The premises, on a ridgeline, are ideally located for radio transmission, allowing contact to be maintained across greater Auckland. Club members perform weekly check-ins for Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) to ensure working radio links to command posts, airports, police, community centres and marae across the region.
Radio provides vital back-up if digital services are out of action, as occurred in Cyclone Gabrielle on the East Coast in 2023.
Club members are also involved in Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (AREC), a national network devised to kick in when digital or satellite communication fails due to weather or solar flares.
Club deputy chair Clive Brumby says the club is now the sole tenant in the building and was not mentioned in key documents addressing the future of the facility. “I fear we’ve been forgotten,” he says.
He has been trying to raise awareness that the club of 150 members aren’t just hobbyists.
Council has offered other sites, but Brumby says these were a valley in Albany, unsuitable for transmitting, or in West Auckland, which would see membership drop away.
Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Trish Deans says: “These are guys with serious skills, we want them in the community. We don’t want them to lose them.”
Deans has asked AEM to give its views to the board and hopes a suitable local home can be found for the club.

Until late last year, AEM had staff of its own working in the building. Its use for civil defence purposes dates back to North Shore City Council days.
The board does not have a decision-making role over council corporate property.
Brumby says the East Coast Rd building could still be of value if retained by the council, because of its location “high and dry” on an arterial road.
Community sources have told the Observer they think more flood-proof community space is needed for the wider area, with the recently refloored Sunnynook Community Centre at capacity and in a floodplain and Milford lacking a council community facility.
AEM head of operations John Cranfield said it was continuing to invest in the radio communications network.
“There is full provision for emergency radio communications at an alternate site in Henderson.” In an agreement with AREC, the club’s members had access to that site to provide support in an emergency response.
“We do recognise the North Shore club of Amateur Radio Emergency Communications’ valuable contribution to emergency radio communications over many years. We hold a strong and enduring relationship with AREC, and are working through this matter with them and the council.”

Please consider supporting The Rangitoto Observer by clicking here: