Background:

A long campaign to preserve the three parallel rows of mature pohutukawa growing in reserve land along Margan Avenue in New Lynn has been successful for the time being. This successful outcome means that six pohutukawa threatened by removal for the construction of a road will remain standing as part of this greenbelt planted in the early 1960’s. 

This sweep of mature trees lies adjacent to a dense housing complex of 1800 units which includes the future construction of several multi-storied apartment buildings.  During Stage One of the development, the developer removed fourteen mature pohutukawa in this same greenbelt and was allowed to do so because of ownership rights as they were on private land.

Over a period of three years, additional road ingress into the development was sought by the developer and plans presented to the Whau Local Board (WLB). Each of these proposals involved making use of the public reserve land known as Margan Reserve and involved, at one stage, the destruction of up to a third of the remaining trees in the Reserve, through the construction of a central road.  A public campaign, supported by The Tree Council, was launched for the retention of the trees and to make Council planners and members of the WLB aware of the need to respond to wide-spread public support to save the trees.

None of these proposals eventuated in a resource consent application until in October 2018, a proposal for a land exchange to swap the eastern end of the Reserve for the developer’s land, in order to construct a road, was sought by the developer and notified by Auckland Council.  This application was supported by Council as the land is unclassified recreation reserve held in fee simple by Council. However, there was a requirement to proceed to full public hearing under the Reserves Act 1977. The hearing was held on March 8, 2019.

Proposed Land Exchange Hearing:

The proposed land exchange would have involved the exchange of 295m2 of Margan Reserve and the loss of six pohutukawa for a long ( 66m ) and narrow  (6.2m wide ) strip of the developer’s land adjacent to Margan Avenue that would form part of the Reserve.  There would have been a marked deficit both in ecological value, (tree loss) and visual amenity, plus fragmentation of the  ecological unit of the existing reserve, and this is what we argued at the public hearing. Another seventy seven submissions from you were received in opposition to the land exchange proposal.

With regard to the loss of ecological value, our group had sought and secured an arboricultural report undertaken by the WLB.  This showed clearly that only weed growth was prevalent in the development land to be exchanged.  It alluded to two significant pohutukawa on the private  development land but did not conclude that these trees would be preserved in any land exchange. Despite this, it was the position of Council up to the morning of the hearing that   “There are two Pohutukawa and a Mexican pine on the land proposed to form part of Margan Reserve” ( Hearing Submissions Form, Oct 2018 ).

This, in fact, proved to be untrue: “The vegetation in this area contains dense woody weed species, understory and mid-canopy weed species” and Council listed the attributes of trees to potentially be brought into the Reserve as two groups of Privet.  ( Supplementary Background Report for the Independent Commissioner on the Proposed Margan Avenue Land Exchange (tabled at the hearing)).

Council and the developer also argued that the case for a road through the Reserve was supported by the New Lynn Precinct Plan, which in fact, as pointed out by the Independent Commissioner at the hearing, only allowed for a lane (3-4m wide ) and not a road ( 26m wide) in this location. The Commissioner also questioned why there were no detailed plans for the proposed road construction and that the prerequisite for a land exchange proposal rested on an application for this consent which should be deemed necessary only by Auckland Transport.

The Environment and Planning Committee of Council considered the Independent Commissioner’s recommendation to decline the proposed land exchange on May 14 and this was carried.  It also recommended that the WLB undertake formal classification of Margan Reserve under the Reserves Act 1977.   The formal classification of the Reserve would serve to put a management plan in place and also to attach additional protection to the status of Margan Reserve. We hope that in this way, the pohutukawa growing there will continue to provide amenity to the community in the years to come. We await in anticipation for the WLB to action this recommendation made by Council Committee.

Thank you for your support to keep the trees standing!

There may be another attempt to make use of Margan Reserve for a road. We will keep you posted. The fight to preserve our pohutukawa may not be over yet.