Council rejects Auckland plan extension

Auckland ratepayers have been denied extra time to consider the city's controversial unitary plan.

A push to extend the deadline for notifying the plan beyond September to allow for increased public consultation was rejected by a majority of councillors this afternoon at the council's governing body meeting in Orewa.

A vote on the Ayes and Noes followed a lengthy and intense debate.

Nine of the city’s 20 councillors earlier expressed concerns about the plan’s timetable.  The government has already rejected the push by Mayor Len Brown for it to take legal effect upon notification, instead opting for a three-year hearings process.

Cr George Wood, who promoted an extension to the timetable, described the current time frame for notifying the plan as “extraordinarily tight” as by law it has to take place at least 60 working days after the current public feedback period finishes at the end of May.

Cr Wood says the plan is complex and many people do not understand what was in it.

He says the hearings process once the plan is notified will be "like the Environment Court" with cross-examination of witnesses and armies of lawyers involved.

"At those hearings the small people will find it very hard to put themselves against the deep-pocketed developers and others who will have legal representation."

Mayor Len Brown says he understands the concerns of Cr Wood and others but there is a need to avoid "changing course mid-stream" with the plan.

"There's been some very intense discussion and I've loved it, even some of the stuff coming over the barricades," he says.  "The over-arching theme I'm seeing is people are pretty comfortable with this.  By and large 99% of those seriously concerned about some aspect of the plan are all about height."

Not set in stone

The meeting heard there's no requirement in law for the plan to be notified in September and the current timetable has already been extended six months from the original aim to have it notified in March.

Cr Des Morrison says the date of notification should be pushed back if the quality of the plan is compromised by having to keep to the current timetable.

"If I believed we were falling short I would probably join you but it's too early to make that call."

Cr Cameron Brewer says public concern about the plan is "growing not abating" and the public should be given more time.

"We’re seeing packed community halls like Auckland hasn’t seen for a long time. We’re seeing and hearing from a less than impressed public also via newspaper columns, on talkback radio and letters to the editor," he says. 

"Not only are they concerned about the plan’s content but the process, with a lot of frustration over the quality of information, the many errors that have been acknowledged, the limited number of hardcopy maps, and the workability of the website. Let’s err on the side of caution."

Where's the evidence?

Cr Dick Quax says the changes proposed in the unitary plan will be the biggest change Auckland has gone through in its history and people need time to digest the information in the plan.

"Sometimes when you are running a marathon it pays to stop and get some refreshments," he says.

Quax also questions what evidence the Auckland Council has to support its "quality compact city" agenda, quoting a report that suggested that the level of intensification planned by the council would meet huge community resistance.

He says he spoke to an economist/urban researcher recently who said there was probably only enough room in "brownfields" sites within the urban boundary for about 120-160,000 dwellings, well short of what the council is planning for. 

"We are making a plan without all the information that was required."

Residents 'scared'

Cr Arthur Anae says people are getting scared over the plan, with some thinking they will be forced to leave their houses to make way for apartment blocks.

Auckland Council chief planning officer Roger Blakely says property rights will be protected and "no-one is going to be forced to sell their house."

Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says some residents have been "deliberately misinformed" about the plan.

"Some older adults are frightened we're going to take their homes."

She says many parts of the city will have similar rules to their current district plans and the vast majority of land inside the city limits will have a height limit of two stories.

"Ninety-three percent of Auckland is pretty much unchanged."

nkloeten@nbr.co.nz