Auckland Council not valuing sport, recreation and heritage buildings, say advocates

Sport, recreation and heritage buildings are missing in the latest blueprint for Auckland, say groups working in these fields.

A "refresh" of the Auckland Plan has come in for criticism from Auckland Sport & Recreation and heritage groups for failing to properly recognise the contribution the sectors play to city life.

The Auckland Plan is a blueprint out to 2050 and includes the city's guiding values to meet the challenges of growth.

Last night, the council said the latest Auckland Plan is more streamlined than the first plan in 2012, but still acknowledges the importance of built heritage and physical activity.

But Auckland Sport and Recreation (Aktive) chief executive Dr Sarah Sandley says the draft plan relegates sport, recreation and physical activity from a chapter of its own in the current plan to barely being acknowledged.

She said sport and recreation contributes at least $1.76 billion to the Auckland economy, employs more than 17,000 people and has 308,880 volunteers.

"The Auckland Plan is a reference point for Auckland Council investment so this exclusion represents another blow to sport and recreation," Sandley said.

She said the council's proposed 10-year budget appears to show insufficient investment into sport and recreation to address the current shortfall and the rapid growth in Auckland's population.

Medium term, Auckland faces a shortage of 30 indoor courts, 70 outdoor netball courts, 40 outdoor tennis courts and the equivalent of 50 artificial turfs for winter sports, Sandley said.

Heritage groups are also dismayed at no mention of built or historic heritage in the plan refresh.

Helen Geary, a board member on the Civic Trust and member of council's heritage advisory panel, said the first 2012 Auckland Plan had a 14-page chapter on historic heritage.

"As more of the city's historic heritage has been destroyed or come under threat due to inadequate protection, our historic heritage has become increasingly valued during the last six years, not less.

"We question therefore where the mandate is to write historic heritage out of the Auckland Plan 2050," Geary said in a letter to councillors.

The draft refresh has a positive focus on Auckland's environment, said Geary, but it should consider the natural and built environment equally.

She called for the wording of the environment section to be expanded to include "cultural and historic heritage" and reinstatement of the 2012 chapter.

Another member of the heritage panel and Character Coalition spokeswoman Sally Hughes will address a council workshop about on the concerns on Wednesday.

The council officer overseeing the Auckland Plan, Jacques Victor, said some people were struggling with how the council was providing less detail in the latest plan.

The arts and culture sector also believed they should have a chapter in the document, he said.

Victor said the latest plan set the principles and focused on three critical issues facing Auckland - the rate and speed of population growth, sharing prosperity with all Aucklanders, and reducing environmental degradation.

The detail is provided at the next level through a range of other strategic documents, like the Auckland Sport and Recreation Strategic Action Plan and the Unitary Plan, he said.

The draft plan stresses the importance of physical activity with associated health and well-being benefits and sports and recreation is seen as a subset of broader physical activity.

Victor said the term "cultural heritage" in the plan includes built heritage.

"The plan acknowledges the role and importance that built heritage plays in the identity and character of communities. As an example, how this needs to be incorporated in local place-making," he said.