Are you sick of seeing awful multi-stacked housing developments going up in areas that were never designed for it? Ever worry that it could happen next door to you. Or did you feel safe knowing that your house is not zoned for such developments? Think again.

The council is choosing to ignore the unitary plan when it suits them. This means many of these developments were never supposed to be in these areas at all. But more houses means more money for the council. The worst part is, the council is not telling you about it.

Ordinarily, infringements such as these should be notified to the public to allow them to object. But the council also developed a clause that allows them to not notify the public if they consider the effects less than minor. It seems that this clause is used whenever it suits them. From what we have seen, the effects are always minor to them (even though they are not to us). How can that be?

Auckland Council sold us a unitary plan that they seem to be blatantly ignoring. We need to stop allowing the council and developers to disregard the intentions of the plan. They have sold us something it seems they had no intentions of honouring. Now we find out that this plan was never even a plan. It was just a guide. This can’t be right. Can it?

Case study:

At 26 long bay drive, the council has allowed 8 houses to go up on a section that is zoned for a maximum of 3. This development has over 30 infringements including height to boundary, living spaces, building coverage, yard size, and impervious areas. The street is already overloaded with cars. The council deemed the effects less than minor and therefore did not notify anybody first. Once the development began all 7 neighbors objected. The council has since ignored all the complaints. This is not an isolated incident. It is happening all over Auckland. Many of our established suburban areas are assaulted with these massive unbeautiful structures, destroying the character of the environment and overcrowding the streets. Streets that were never designed for 3 houses per lot let alone 8. It is wrong. We must let the council know it cannot do this. Nothing is safe anymore. If the council wants the money, it seems it will allow anything to happen. This is not the answer to a housing crisis. This is greed. Especially when all of these houses will still sell at a premium price. 

This is just one prime example of how the council is dealing with the unitary plan and ignoring the well-being of its ratepayers. 

The council needs to notify the public when it exceeds the unitary plan on housing. We need to make a stand where it counts.

Sign the petition to make the council hear your voice if you are not happy with what they are doing. If we have to have a unitary plan for our city then let us stick to it. We need to build houses to get people into homes. But let’s build our city the right way. protect our cities future while we still have a chance.

Please note: We do acknowledge the importance of addressing a housing shortage in Auckland. Houses need to be built fast and in an affordable way. We merely want to ensure this is done in the right way so we continue to have a city we are proud of.