No place in New Zealand for no-go areas, says Clark

Tangitangi Vave looks on as her mother Sulieti Pese greets Helen Clark in Northcote yesterday. Picture / Dean Purcell

"No go" zones won't be allowed in New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday while visiting a North Shore neighbourhood which is the target of a cleanup campaign by police, social agencies and community groups.

In Northcote Central, she was told by Inspector Gary Davey, of North Shore Police, that the neighbourhood of 1100 homes was one where people had lived with fear and intimidation and drug dealers in their midst.

But in the past year, as part of the Safer Northcote project, police took a hard line with local crime.

Team policing, criminal investigation branch and undercover operations carried out a zero tolerance policy on crime. "We drove the drug dealers out of the houses," said Mr Davey. "There has been a significant reduction in disorder, intimidation, violence and drug dealing. There is still a way to go but we have made significant inroads."

Mr Davey said a key part of the project's success was due to the support from the community, when residents said they wanted to help stamp out crime.

The focus had moved on to dealing with youth problems.

The Prime Minister recalled places in overseas cities where both police and citizens were afraid to enter.

"We won't have no-go areas in Kiwi cities," she said.

Government policy aimed to promote effective intervention in the crime cycle and she was impressed how this was being carried out by the three projects under way in Northcote.

The Prime Minister, accompanied by Housing Minister Chris Carter, went inside two of the 315 units occupied by 1100 Housing New Zealand tenants in Northcote Central.

Since 2003, Housing New Zealand, North Shore City Council and community representatives have been working on a long-term neighbourhood redevelopment to improve health and safety. Those agencies are also working with three local schools and the Ministry for Social Development on a youth development project.

Helen Clark visited the freshly-painted rental unit of Valu and Tangitangi Vave who have four children aged from 8 to 2 years old.

Mr Vave, who was preparing for a 12-hour night shift at a screen printing factory, said his home of seven years felt safer these days because of the three campaigns.

Community development leader Frank Rawiri said he was seeing changes for a better environment after a long community consultation effort.