For too many Aucklanders Plan Change 120 has become another chapter in an increasingly time-consuming, confusing battle to defend the peaceful enjoyment of their homes and properties.
PC120 and its earlier version, PC78, has already taken five years and costed $14 million. The process will drag on until late October 2027. But by then, Auckland will be dealing with an entirely new planning system.
The current Government describes its new legislation as ‘the greatest change to resource management law since the Resource Management Act 1991.’ That matters because Auckland’s Unitary Plan, including PC120, sits entirely within the RMA framework. Once the replacement legislation is enacted, the parent Unitary Plan is due to be reviewed and aligned with it.
So why push ahead with a process that will need to be substantially revisited almost as soon as it is finished? At the recent council planning committee, I proposed an amendment to pause PC120 until parliament finalises its new legislation and Auckland knows what planning framework it will be operating under. After a long debate the amendment was lost, 15 votes to 7.
A numerical analysis of the 10,557 public submissions on PC120, revealed 6,840 (64.8%) opposing, 3,048 wanting major amendments, and only 614 (5.8%) in support. Council is once again out of touch with public opinion.
In this ward, St Marys Bay, Freemans Bay and Parnell are targeted for 15-storey apartment towers. These historic streets of wooden, mainly kauri, lovingly maintained villas and cottages, have long been protected as Special Character Areas (SCA). Under PC120, across inner Auckland 4735 special character homes are to be ‘upzoned’ for intensification, 1005 in this ward. Approximately 80 per cent of the St Mary’s Bay SCA—arguably the oldest surviving residential part of Auckland— is targeted for destruction.
The original stated reason for further intensification was the order from central government to provide for 2 million extra potential dwellings. On the census average of 3 persons-per-dwelling, this would mean 6 million extra people - despite already inadequate infrastructure. Due to intense public pressure the government reduced that; first to 1.6 million, then 1.4 million. Despite this the council is still pushing ahead with provision for 1.5 to 1.7 million extra dwellings. This on top of the extra 235,000 still available under the existing Unitary Plan.
While there is much talk about intensification along the rail corridors, this week we learned a proposed apartment complex over the new CRL Wai Horotiu train station has failed to attract even one buyer. Furthermore PC120 has made no provision to intensify around the NorthWest Busway stations. Is public transport the real driver here?
A clue is the proposed ‘walkable catchments’ to be imposed on this ward, despite well-argued opposition from former Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook. The internationally accepted standard for rapid transit is an 800-metre walking distance over level terrain. For this ward the planners have extended the distance by 50% - to 1.2 km - in some of the city’s steepest suburbs, as justification for intensification. Clearly the objective is to open up Auckland’s northern slopes with its commercially valuable harbour views to high-rise development. It seems the key driving force is pressure from the influential property sector.
That will not be a minor adjustment. It will permanently wreck Auckland’s most distinctive historic areas. The piecemeal destruction of these unique townscapes set in human-scale garden suburbs will mean a special part of Auckland will be lost forever - replaced by pepper-potted 15-storey luxury apartment towers.
The evidence for this is reinforced by a 10km circle, a sort of bullseye, planners have drawn around the inner city and harbour. This is a radical departure from the effects-based philosophy underpinning the RMA. As I told the meeting, ‘You don’t need a Bachelor of Urban Planning degree to draw a circle around a commercially desirable area – a real estate company sales manager could do that.’
One thing is clear – PC120 is not about making houses more affordable. That’s done by building houses and providing low interest loans to help people – especially first home buyers into them. Not by deregulating the planning rules to suit vested interests.
Pausing Plan Change 120 would preserve the work completed while allowing it to inform Auckland’s next planning framework. Given the reforms coming from Wellington—and the damaging consequences for communities like St Mary’s Bay—the prudent course is to pause, take stock and get it right.
www.mikelee.co.nz
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