People waiting for buses outside a McDonald's building site shiver in winter weather, reports Joanna Davies.
Balmoral's McDonald's is slowly taking shape near the corner of Dominion Rd - and, after years of community opposition to the new restaurant, residents now have another reason to be muttering into their unhappy meals.
The bus shelter outside the construction site has been removed.
The Balmoral Rd bus stop is still in use, but there's no shelter when the weather is bad.
Local resident Beverley Roser is angry the shelter has been removed. "I went past there on the bus one day and said to myself, 'I thought there was a shelter there'.
"I emailed Auckland Transport and they told me that McDonalds have to provide a bus shelter under their resource consent conditions, but they have taken one away without putting up a temporary one," Mrs Roser says.
"If I had to remove a bus shelter outside my home because of construction, I wouldn't get away with it."
As part of the former Auckland City Council's approval, McDonald's must replace the shelter by building one into the new restaurant.
Another resident, who does not wish to be named, uses the bus stop regularly and says people are having to wait in the rain for buses when the weather is bad.
"There were three of us waiting in an awful storm for a bus a couple of weeks ago, and there was no shelter at all. It's not fair on the elderly people or young mums with children who use public transport."
Albert-Eden Local Board chairman Peter Haynes says the consent does not specify when the new bus shelter must be built.
"The decision does not give any time frames about when the shelter should be replaced, so McDonald's might not build it until the end of their construction," Dr Haynes says.
"Elderly people have been drenched in the rain because a multinational hasn't got to provide a temporary shelter.
"The people in this suburb have had this McDonald's foisted on them, and it's not acceptable."
A McDonald's spokesperson, who did not want to be named, says the restaurant will provide a bus shelter by extending the roof canopy from the building and will also install seating.
"The original bus shelter at this location was owned by Adshel and was built on McDonald's land without our prior consent.
"However, we worked alongside Adshel, allowing it to stay there for some time.
"The shelter had to be removed for construction to commence, as it was within our new building line and unfortunately we were unable to offer a temporary solution as our building line is right on the boundary."
The spokesperson says any temporary structure could "impede pedestrian flow because of the width of the remaining land".
"The new shelter will be available when the restaurant opens in early September."
Spring officially begins on September 1.
Gimme shelter
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