Fighting back against high-rises in Auckland suburbs. Ryan Bridge TV Today - Herald NOW 12 March 2026.
Fighting back against high-rises in Auckland suburbs.
Interview by Ryan Bridge with Sally Hughes of the Character Coalition. Video starts at 1:15:00 - 1:21:00 on YouTube
Auckland mayor wants to push ahead with intensification despite mixed reviews.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown wants to push ahead with intensification in inner-city suburbs, whether residents like it or not. Last month, the government agreed to reduce Auckland's minimum housing capacity from roughly two million to 1.6 million. That's still 400,000 more than the 1.2 million under its current Unitary Plan. The council will ask the government to enable more housing density within 10 kilometres of the CBD, to make room for population growth in the coming decades. But Aucklanders' reactions to the decision are mixed. Jessica Hopkins reports.
Let’s leave the era of ticky-tacky townhouses well behind us.
Perusing the listings of townhouses for sale in Auckland makes for some grim reading.
There’s the Henderson townhouse squeezed into a development of nine like a dog’s basket at the end of the bed, and all but three without car parks. (Image supplied by Maria Slade)
Be sure not to miss the three-level, two-bedroom terrace in Massey, also sans car park, an hour and 20 minutes’ bus commute from the CBD.
The end unit in a long row with its garage so hard up against the boundary that it would be impossible to turn out of is a particular gem.
It is little wonder such unappealing pieces of real estate are languishing on the market for months, some for so long that they lose their "new build" status.
East Auckland residents say three-storey development shouldn't be allowed, fear for privacy
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Residents of an affluent east Auckland suburb fear their quiet lifestyle could be shattered. With dozens of buildings looming high above her garden, Farm Cove resident Anne Moore said there was nowhere to hide.
"My sister's room is curtains drawn because there are people building on the building site, and there's no privacy," she said.
With the support of her neighbours, she had sought legal advice, maintaining the development should no longer be allowed under Auckland's recently changed planning rules.
The hammers and grinders echoing through her home office were hard at work on a pair of three-storey residential units, and they were right next door.
Moore worried the lack of privacy could be permanent once her new neighbours moved in.
"I think the fact that it looks right into our home and right into our property. We've got a spa pool, there's two or three swimming pools in the surrounding area that they now look down on all of us," she said.