Source: Radio New Zealand
An apartment on Hobson Street in central Auckland. RNZ / Yiting Lin
Aucklanders are having mixed reactions to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s plan to push ahead with intensification in inner-city suburbs.
Last month, the government agreed to reduce Auckland’s minimum housing capacity from roughly two million to 1.6 million in the coming decades. That is still 400,000 more than the 1.2 million under its current Unitary Plan.
Mayor Brown said his council would be asking the government to allow more housing density within 10 kilometres of the city, where there is good public transport and infrastructure.
Sally Hughes, from the Auckland heritage group the Character Coalition, said she was worried about what the council’s plans would mean for suburbs with historic architecture.
“We’re very concerned about Kingsland, Mount Eden, and the North Shore, which are all included in that 10km where intensification isn’t going to be reduced. We’re very unhappy about that decision,” Hughes said.
Auckland Councillors are yet to see any of the more than 10,000 public submissions it received on a future housing plan for Auckland last year.
About 50 council staff were working to summarise the feedback for councillors to review in the next few months.
Mayor Wayne Brown said his council would be asking the government to allow more housing density within 10 kilometres of the city. RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Hughes said the public’s concerns should be heard before any decisions are made.
“A number of councillors have expressed concern that they were making this decision, including the arbitrary 10km, without seeing any of the submissions,” she said.
“That’s our concern, too. We fear Aucklanders aren’t being listened to.”
Long-time Parnell resident Laurie Mayne said he, along with two other people, including his wife Stephanie, had brought on a lawyer and an economist to put an alternative proposal to the council and the government.
They are proposing that intensification be restricted to the city centre, metropolitan centres, and within 800 metres of rapid transit stops, with greenfield development making up the rest of the housing capacity required.
“The threat for the likes of my wife and I, and every other Parnell resident and every other Ponsonby and Mount Eden resident, is not that we will be inundated with 15-storey buildings. We’re not concerned about that because that’s not an issue. That will never happen,” Mayne said.
“What we’re concerned about is the theft of our property rights by a developer coming in, being enabled to and encouraged to build a 15-storey apartment building right on my boundary.
“That’s what’s getting people in Auckland, rightly very wound up.”
St Georges Bay Road in Parnell, Auckland. RNZ / Marika Khabazi
He said their proposal could deliver the 1.6 million capacity needed.
But Jon Reeves, of the Public Transport Users Association, welcomed the council’s decision.
He said the government had invested a lot in improving the city’s public transport network, including the City Rail Link, which was due to open later this year.
“It would make logical sense to increase housing and intensification around the public transport nodes. We obviously want more bums on seats to help pay for the investment,” Reeves said.
But he said there was a balance to strike.
“We don’t want to just demolish every heritage area to put up large apartment blocks. Places like Parnell, you have to weigh it up. Do we want to demolish what character is left there or not, and that’s a question that not only the council but residents should have a say about.”
Director of the transport advocacy website Greater Auckland, Matt Lowrie, also agreed with the mayor’s approach.
“It makes sense that the focus of intensification will be in the areas closest to the city centre, on good public transport routes, and in town centres. Those are the areas where there’s the highest amenity and the most attractiveness for development, and also the best transport links to the city centre, where a lot of people are working,” Lowrie said.
“There’s a whole lot of noise that’s gone on from people who have been successful in the past in forcing development out to the fringes in places like Flatbush, leading to people having long commutes because they’ve tried to prevent housing in their areas.
“What we’re seeing now is housing being put in the places where it should be put, which is close to the city.”
He believed people did not need to be fearful about suburbs being taken over by high-rises.
“Just because something is zoned for an apartment doesn’t mean that it’s going to be built.
“For example, we’re already seeing where zoning allows for five-and-six-storey apartments, two to three-storey townhouses are being built instead.
“That’s a key point that often people miss about this. It’s just allowing development, should people want to. But those locations close to train stations and busway stations are ideal for more homes.”
Final decisions about Auckland’s housing needs aren’t expected to be made until mid-2027.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
