The Environment Court has issued a decision which is very damaging for the future of our Special Character Areas (SCA’s). It gave consent to the total demolition of a 1920’s bungalow, in original condition, at 22 Crescent Road, Epsom, in the heart of the Maungakiekie SCA, and its replacement with a new house. This creates a precedent that can be used by others wishing to demolish original houses in Special Character Areas.

The Maungakiekie SCA ranks highly in the Council’s recent re-survey of SCA’s, and the house itself scores 6/6 on the Council’s scale in that survey.

The application to the Environment Court was opposed by a group of 18 local residents, by Heritage NZ and by Character Coalition. Comprehensive expert evidence opposing the demolition was given by two heritage architects, Robin Byron from Heritage NZ and William Howse from Council’s Heritage Unit. However, despite this compelling evidence the Court chose instead to accept evidence from the Applicant’s witnesses who supported the demolition.

 The Court’s decision is a long one but in essence could be summarised as:

 1. buildings and built heritage are of little, if any, importance in SCA’s ; and

 2. all applications to demolish buildings in SCA’s should be non-notified.

 Our concerns

Our primary concern is the precedent effect of this decision. Council will take it as a green light to deal with all future applications to demolish houses in SCA’s on a non-notified basis and grant them. The first that people in a SCA will know of it is when the wreckers arrive and demolition begins. The eventual result will be the destruction of our SCA’s from ‘death by a thousand cuts.’

Outcome of Appeal

We appealed this decision to the High Court. The Court did not allow the appeal ,but it did make it clear that this decision should not be seen as a precedent allowing other properties in Special Character Areas to be demolished. This met one of our main concerns.

We have recently heard that the owner has abandoned her plans to demolish the house and has sold the property to a purchaser who plans to renovate it in a way that will maintain the character of the area.

We are pleased with this result, which would not have been achieved without our appeal. We are grateful to all those who contributed to the costs of this appeal, especially an anonymous private donor who made a substantial donation.