Auckland ratepayers have forked out more than $1.2 million to cover vandalism and graffiti at parks and playgrounds in the past year – the worst being at a south Auckland park where facilities were gutted by a fire.
By Torika Tokalau, Local Democracy Reporter
According to Auckland Council, 1884 reports of vandalism was reported from July 1, 2024 to 30 July 2025, costing ratepayers $634,380 to repair.
Auckland Council parks and community facilities general manager Taryn Crewe said a fire at Leabank Park in Manurewa was the most significant, and costly.
The park, which serves as a community hub for sports and recreation, boosting two rugby league fields and a cricket oval, is equipped with changing rooms, a playground and parking.
Last April, a fire broke out in the park’s changing room which caused extensive damage, gutting facilities and forcing replacements of all fixtures.
Crewe said toilets, basins, showers and seating all had to be replaced.
“It also required a full rewire, gas line inspections, repairs to walls and ceilings (including painting), and repairs to the exterior soffit and gutters,” she said.
“The total repair cost was $130,694.”
Manurewa Papakura councillor and former Manurewa Local Board chair Matt Winiata said the fire caused significant damage to the power box.
“Any fire, however big or small it is, is going to be quite damaging, and even more so for a local board that’s struggling to find funding, especially for maintenance.
“From conversations that I’ve had with staff, south Auckland and Manurewa rates very highly on the vandalism budget.”
Over the last year, there have been numerous instances of vandalism across council’s parks network, with many costing anything between $5000 to $50,000 and more to repair, Crewe said.
“Each instance of vandalism is unacceptable and negatively impacts the local community.
“Locals can’t use facilities at the affected park until the vandalism is repaired, and the general experience of using the park is lessened.”
In the same period, $650,000 was used to remove graffiti from parks and reserves, including playgrounds, skate parks, park and beach furniture.
Crewe said there was 15,169 reported incidents.
Bill hits $4.5m when including toilets, buildings and town centres
She said graffiti was managed through a contract where council paid for removals as they are completed.
Council spent around $4.5 million per year on graffiti removal, which also included toilets, buildings and town centres.
She urged Aucklanders to respect park spaces and the facilities within them, and treat them with care.
“Any instance of graffiti or vandalism is one too many and the cost of fixing this ultimately falls to ratepayers.
“Continued repeated vandalism of assets may result in them being removed permanently which would not be a good outcome for many in the community who value these assets.”
Winiata said people should take pride in the public facilities they have.
“We have a lot of dirt bikers using our parks and ripping up fields, it’s not only taking those that use the fields for sports, it also puts an unanticipated cost on the local board to repair, and sometimes those repair can take a long time to get on top of.”
Meanwhile, 14 playground renewals have been completed in the 2026 financial year so far, with five more to be completed.
Crewe said the completed renewals, which included a new playground at Eastview Reserve in Glen Innes, cost $13.83m.
The five additional playground renewals and upgrades will be at Clive Howe Road Recreation Reserve playground, Colin Lawrie Reserve playground, Te Ngaio (Hudsons Beach) Recreation Reserve and Kiwi Esplanade playground.
It will cost an estimated $2.6m.
Crewe said playground renewals is dependent on demand in geographical areas, and needs for new play experiences.
“All play is important and is essential for people’s physical health, mental wellbeing, creativity and social connection."
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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