Highbury high-rise plans have been sent back to the drawing board.
A more integrated approach to planning the future of the town centre has followed a council decision on May 24 which was supported by the Kaipatiki Local Board.
Auckland Council regional development and operations committee agreed to withdraw the former North Shore City Council’s Highbury Plan Change which addressed building height limits within the business zone.
Committee chairwoman and local North Shore ward councillor Ann Hartley says the city’s planning framework had changed significantly since amalgamation and provided a more strategic and cost effective way forward.
“Highbury is a key part of our city and with better planning tools within our grasp, we won’t be dealing with height restrictions in isolation, she says.
“The aspirations identified in the approved Auckland Plan and the future Kaipatiki Area Plan will provide for an appropriate, informed variation to the Unitary Plan – the city’s resource management plan now under development.”
Mrs Hartley says the area planning process will result in a clearer view of Highbury’s future emerging next year and will identify what’s needed in the transport and related areas to unleash Highbury’s potential.
In February anxiety rang throughout the community as a leaked council document talked of Highbury, Birkenhead and Northcote, including heritage areas, being ripe for controversial highrise apartment blocks.
Around 70 people attended a public meeting organised by the Kaipatiki Local Board in response.
Local Board member Grant Gillon says the continued discussion focusing on the loss of heritage in these areas has renewed community concern.
“This highlights that there are two serious planning issues facing the community in Birkenhead: the push by planners for high-rise intensification in Birkenhead and the proposals to undermine our heritage areas,” he says.
Mr Gillon says he’s delighted that the board has listened to the community and rejected proceeding on the proposed plan change for Highbury.
The former North Shore City held many consultation evenings with the community over allowing higher buildings along Mokoia Rd and Birkenhead Ave, he says.
“The proposals under the former North Shore City would have had a negative impact on the local shopping centre and community,” he says.
But Mr Gillon says the plans to allow high-rise and intensivedevelopment in Birkenhead have not gone away, they have just shifted.
Officers advise that the proposals will be integrated with the Auckland Plan as part of a proposed Kaipatiki Local Board Area Plan development next year, he says.
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Written by: LISA HONEYBONE
Reprinted with permission: Auckland Now – North Shore Times