Waitakeres face 'death by suburbia'

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Subdivision laws and rules are not enough to save the Waitakere Ranges from "death by a thousand cuts," says the country's top environmental watchdog.

In a report on his troubleshooting visit to West Auckland, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Morgan Williams, says the ranges are in a danger of becoming "some form of suburbia" by the end of this century.

He calls on a community that is split over how to use the ranges to lift its sights from present tensions and come up with a united vision for 30 to 50 years hence.

Consensus on a future natural character is preferable to legal guides, Dr Williams says in a letter to interest groups, obtained yesterday by the Herald.

In his opinion, the Resource Management Act alone will not be enough to deliver key objectives wanted by all parties.

The act and the Waitakere district plan would not prevent the cumulative effect of many little subdivisions being approved by the city council.

Dr Williams says the range's environment and ecosystems have a finite capacity to accommodate change.

The land's ability to hold soil and stormwater can deteriorate, although it "looks green" through the efforts of new residents to plant trees and tuck homes away in the bush.

He suggests making the ranges a "living natural heritage area."

Under this concept, clear goals and programmes protect an area's natural, historic and cultural heritage, while accepting that people and communities are part of the environment.

The suggestion was yesterday described as exciting by John Edgar, who is president of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society.

He said the society had asked Dr Williams to look into its concerns that the dominant Go Waitakere faction on the council had freed up subdivision.

Mr Edgar said lifting the whole area into a new and special status would make conservation a key imperative.

"It is a widely used model in other countries where private land has special values that need protecting. It is called the protected landscapes model."

He said the society would cooperate with Dr Williams and the council in investigating the concept.

The chairman of the council's planning committee, Don Chapman, said last night that it would respond to the report after a special meeting today.