NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Stop the spin and listen, residents tell council

Bernard Orsman
By Bernard Orsman
Auckland Reporter·NZ Herald·
19 May, 2013 05:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A presentation by Auckland 2040's Richard Burton showed three-storey apartments would appear in almost half of residential Auckland.  Photo / Brett Phibbs
A presentation by Auckland 2040's Richard Burton showed three-storey apartments would appear in almost half of residential Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A presentation by Auckland 2040's Richard Burton showed three-storey apartments would appear in almost half of residential Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A public meeting of about 500 people has told the Auckland Council to rethink its intensification plans for the city, start listening to communities and stop spinning.

The biggest display of opposition to the council's plans saw hundreds of people fill the Takapuna Grammar School hall yesterday calling for a rethink on a new planning rulebook for the city - or Unitary Plan.

They came out in response to a new "grassroots" organisation, Auckland 2040, which revealed that half of residential urban land could be built up with three-storey apartments and residents will have no say.

After nine weeks of telling Aucklanders the maximum height of "small-scale apartments" in neighbourhoods was two storeys, the council admitted to the Herald on Friday the height limit was three storeys.

"The Unitary Plan as proposed is the most fundamental change to Auckland's urban fabric you will ever see," Auckland 2040 co-leader and former planner Richard Burton said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

His co-leader, businessman Guy Haddleton, called for an informed review of the plan without the spin, citing a council flyer handed out at the meeting which stated apartments would not appear in every neighbourhood.

A presentation from Mr Burton said three-storey apartments would appear in 49 per cent of residential Auckland and four, five and six-storey apartments in a further 7 per cent.

"We accept there has to be intensification in Auckland.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The real issue is how and where," he said.

The meeting unanimously passed a resolution to rethink the Unitary Plan in order to balance intensification with infrastructure capability and urban character.

Other resolutions called on the council to rethink the apartment zones in residential areas, give people a say on apartment developments, undertake local plans with communities, and conduct assessments of heritage buildings and areas before intensification occurs.

The Character Coalition - an umbrella group of 58 heritage and community groups - announced at the meeting it was joining forces with Auckland 2040.

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Brand new housing deal looks shaky

17 May 05:30 PM
New Zealand

Buyers unwilling to wait

18 May 05:30 PM
New Zealand

Govt sends message to developers

19 May 03:08 AM
Investment

Investor morale jumps

19 May 05:30 PM

Spokeswoman Sally Hughes said it shared the same concerns about the future of the city's neighbourhoods.

Last night, Auckland Mayor Len Brown refused to address the specific resolutions passed at the meeting, but in a statement said the city needed a balanced approach to development over the next 30 years and encouraged as many people as possible to have a say in the final two weeks of engagement on the draft unitary plan.

Submissions close on May 31.

Read more at shapeauckland.co.nz

No 'vested interests' in plan

Takapuna neighbours Richard Burton and Guy Haddleton are the figures behind the Auckland 2040 movement calling on the Auckland Council to rethink apartments haphazardly scattered throughout Auckland.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Burton is a retired planner who worked for corporates and multi-national companies and Mr Haddleton is a successful IT businessman who sold his US-based software company for US$160 million in 2004.

Both men said they had no vested interests in the new council rulebook - or Unitary Plan - that asks Aucklanders to adapt to more intensification of the traditional suburban lifestyle.

Mr Burton said he went from having a bit of a look at how the draft Unitary Plan affected him to thinking it was going to have significant implications for the built form of Auckland. He said he had been retired for about eight years.

Auckland-born Mr Haddleton - a former SAS captain - returned to the city last year after spending 25 years overseas. He said he did not own property related to "this little project".

Mr Haddleton said "under the changes in the plan, Auckland will change fundamentally. It won't be the Auckland we recognise in 25 years' time ..."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Two Aucklanders win $500,000 in Lotto, Powerball rolls over to $12m

31 May 09:08 AM
New Zealand

'Try-hard idiots': Police Minister blasts ‘cowardly’ boy racers ahead of Tauranga 'invasion'

31 May 07:45 AM
New Zealand

'Community have their eyes': Police recover stolen pounamu

31 May 06:06 AM

Explore the hidden gems of NSW

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Watch: Liam Lawson gifted Whittaker's chocolates by Kiwi F1 fan
Sport

Watch: Liam Lawson gifted Whittaker's chocolates by Kiwi F1 fan

31 May 10:18 AM
Two Aucklanders win $500,000 in Lotto, Powerball rolls over to $12m
New Zealand

Two Aucklanders win $500,000 in Lotto, Powerball rolls over to $12m

31 May 09:08 AM
Inside Nigeria's deadly floods: A community's struggle to find the missing
World

Inside Nigeria's deadly floods: A community's struggle to find the missing

31 May 08:58 AM
Hurricanes save best for last to secure fourth seed for playoffs
Super Rugby

Hurricanes save best for last to secure fourth seed for playoffs

31 May 08:58 AM
'Try-hard idiots': Police Minister blasts ‘cowardly’ boy racers ahead of Tauranga 'invasion'
New Zealand

'Try-hard idiots': Police Minister blasts ‘cowardly’ boy racers ahead of Tauranga 'invasion'

31 May 07:45 AM

Latest from New Zealand

Two Aucklanders win $500,000 in Lotto, Powerball rolls over to $12m

Two Aucklanders win $500,000 in Lotto, Powerball rolls over to $12m

31 May 09:08 AM

Check the numbers from tonight's draw to see if you are in the money.

'Try-hard idiots': Police Minister blasts ‘cowardly’ boy racers ahead of Tauranga 'invasion'

'Try-hard idiots': Police Minister blasts ‘cowardly’ boy racers ahead of Tauranga 'invasion'

31 May 07:45 AM
'Community have their eyes': Police recover stolen pounamu

'Community have their eyes': Police recover stolen pounamu

31 May 06:06 AM
Couple's renovation dream almost derailed by court's error in $8k window dispute

Couple's renovation dream almost derailed by court's error in $8k window dispute

31 May 06:00 AM
‘No regrets’ for Rotorua Retiree
sponsored

‘No regrets’ for Rotorua Retiree

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search