One too many? Joyce Williams, Ōrewa (abridged) Retirement villages – a growth industry with our ageing population – serve a vital need and most do so extremely well. However, too many of these large villages in the one location can be undesirable for several reasons: medical services to the community can only stretch so far and are already overloaded with so many elderly patients in one concentrated catchment; an area with an over concentration of one demographic range is not a desirable or sustainable outcome for the rest of the people in the area; competition in Ōrewa for new residents has become acute among existing and planned retirement villages. We are bombarded with advertising from operators on radio and through print media,including offers of food and wine to encourage visits and various financial incentives to tempt the potential new clientele. Is it a case of too many consents being given in too short a time to too many developers, thereby creating an excess of retirement villages in this area? Has the Council done enough due diligence in this situation and how it will affect the overall balance of the population here? Do we really want Ōrewa to become one giant retirement village?