Transition Laingholm

Laingholm is a small community on the outskirts of Auckland. We live in an area with a lot of native bush, in the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges, on the coast of the Manukau Harbour.

The Laingholm District Citizen Association has been active in this community, in various forms, for over 50 years. At the last meeting of our committee (really a friendly group of members of our community) we decided to get on board with the transition towns initiative, and are now officially on the 'mullers' list.

We are seeking about four members for an initial core group, initially through a page that will be published in the July 2008 issue of our local newspaper: the Roundabout.

The aim after that is to have a community kick-off meeting in August, with a movie screening and a workshop to gather up ideas and initiatives. Issues to think about are

• Local food production - most of us live on a quarter or half acre piece of land
• Local employment. At the moment most of us do the 20k drag in the car to get to places of employment
• The abysmal state of broadband in Laingholm - we could work from home a lot more
• Environmental protection - Laingholm is now part of the Waitakere Ranges 'heritage area'.

If you are interested in working on this initiative, please contact Hinne Hettema (hinnehettema -at- yahoo.com.au).