Crescent Road Appeal
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.’
Character Coalition’s Appeal
The High Court will hear Character Coalition's appeal against the Environment Court’sdecision to allow the demolition of this1920’sbungalow in a high-value Special Character Area in March 2025.
The outcome of the appeal will not just affect this property, but the future of all properties in Special Character Areas, and we are hopeful that this unfortunate precedent set by this decision will not stand.
We do need more funding for this appeal which is of vital importance for the future of all Auckland’s Special Character Areas. If your group or members are able to contribute, please do so either through the Givealittle page or direct to our bank account Character Coalition 38- 9018-0149322-00. Character Coalition is now a registered Charity, CC62974 – for a tax-deductible receipt for direct donations, please webmail us here with the word “receipt” in the subject line.
Auckland Deserves Better
With bi-partisan support, and little allowance for submissions, the Government passed the Resource Management (Housing) Amendment Act in December 2021. This will see three dwellings of three-storey development on all residential land throughout Auckland, except on properties Auckland Council say are covered by a “qualifying matter.” This may include areas already protected in the Unitary Plan because of their special character.
Even though Auckland Council, with significant public input, had already defined Special Character Areas in the Unitary Plan in 2016, and despite record intensification already exceeding expectations, the Act required Council to review these areas. With no legal requirement to do so, Council now proposes that up to a third of homes in Special Character Areas will no longer qualify. This will result in their destruction.
Without Aucklanders take action, developers would inevitably build in these areas to the maximum height and bulk with bare minimum design standards. There is no incentive or requirement to do otherwise. The intrinsic qualities of these urban environments and collective actions of generations of Aucklanders, would be lost forever.
Character Coalition, representing more than 60 Auckland organisations is making the most robust expert case possible and participating fully in the planning process. We’re working with lawyers, architects, planners and resource consent professionals to defend Auckland from this devastating new law.
However, the planning process continues to go nowhere. The PC78 process has now been going two years with nothing to show for it. It is time-consuming and expensive for everyone: citizens, community groups, businesses and Council. Council says it is holding discussions with the Ministry for the Environment asking for legislative change to allow it to withdraw at least part of the Plan Change.
Our position remains that PC78 is quite unnecessary given that our Unitary Plan already provides more than enough capacity for housing intensification in Auckland, in places which are well-served by public transport and infrastructure. It is time that the ill-conceived Plan Change 78 was put out of its misery and withdrawn altogether.