Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Francesca Rudkin: Good news for Auckland Council

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Francesca Rudkin: Good news for Auckland Council · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So it was a big day at Auckland Council yesterday
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: and I think a good day. The Policy and Planning
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Committee meant for most of yesterday to thrash out the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: future of Auckland's housing, debating where and how Auckland are
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: going to plan for more homes, and the Council voted
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: eighteen to five to discard the PC seventy eight and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: notify the PC one twenty or vote for the PC
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: one twenty, which basically means the three story townhouses seen
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: increasingly all over Auckland suburbs are on the way up
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and the high rises and greater intensification around key CRL
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: stations and transport corridors are in This is of course
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: highly contentious and where you lean in the debate may
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: depend on what neighborhood you live in. Residents of wealthy
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: inner city suburbs like Mount Eden, Parnell, Herne Bay and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Green Bay will likely have reservations about more high rise
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: apartments in their neighborhoods, citing a loss of character, loss
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of light, and an increasing demand on infrastructure. The new
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: plan does retain seventy three percent of all the special
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: character areas established under the twenty sixteen Auckland Unitary Plans,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: so that isn't too bad. The new plan is also
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: about the council to down zone in some areas, and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty twenty three flooding taught us that it's
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: well past time we stopped further housing development in areas
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: we know are prone to flooding and coastal erosion. This
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: is a no brainer. It's also cheaper to build where
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: good supporting infrastructure already exists, rather than it is to
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: create new housing areas where infrastructure has to be developed
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: from scratch. In particular, given the cost of the CRL,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: it makes sense to have as many people living near
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: it and benefiting from it as possible, or, as the
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Mayor said, there's no point in spending six billion on
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: something if there's nobody on the damn thing. Even though
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the council meeting voted in favor eighteen to five, it
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean there wasn't plenty of discussion around the council table.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson asked for conditions around high towers
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and I think this was a sensible thing to do.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: She suggested tall apartments need to be set back and
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: have communal areas and facilities. The Mayor supported the amendment,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: saying they need to be parking and commercial activity on
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the lower levels, and so that was incorporated into the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: main motion. I mean car parking is essential, right. Counselor
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Christine Fletcher, though, didn't have quite the same luck with
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: her amendment when she asked for greater consultation and for
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the plan change to be publicly notified. At present, public
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: consultation will begin on November third close on December nineteen.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: It is quick Fletcher's amendment would have drad consultation out
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: until the middle of next year. To be honest, yesterday
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I thought the Council would take the safe option and
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: extend consultation, But after much debate about what Minister Chris
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Bishop would think about all this, I think there was
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a bit of mind reading going on. This amendment was
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: voted down fifteen to eight. So while debate was generally
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: a bit dry, the day did come with some interesting rhetoric.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Counselor Morris Williams thought both options were unacceptable, saying it's
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: a choice between a firing squad and a lethal injection.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Rather surprisingly, he voted for the plan sure which option
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: he considered this to be for more from Early Edition
• 3:05
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• 3:08
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