Month: July 2016
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The Unitary Plan will not solve the Housing Crisis
The Government has put a lot of weight on the Unitary Plan dealing with the housing crisis that clearly Auckland is in the middle of. Last week Minister of Housing Nick Smith said this: It’s not for me to be trying to influence the Council as it now works its way through those recommendations and comes…
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Why the Unitary Plan threatens the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area and what can be done
I blogged this week some initial thoughts on the Unitary Plan and its effect on the Waitakere Ranges. The first thing that I noticed was the change to the Rural Urban Boundary. Because of the proximity of the land in question to rail stations, particularly in the case of the CDL land in Swanson, I found…
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The Unitary Plan and the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Act
The Independent Hearings Panel has released the proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. How Council handles it from here will be interesting. The plan provides for levels of intensification well above those levels which caused near riots in the leafy suburbs recently. The removal of the pre 1944 overlay and the removal of a list of sites…
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Local Boards will not be consulted on final form of Auckland’s Unitary Plan
The Unitary Plan is approaching its denouement. The decision of the Hearings Panel has been provided to Auckland Council and Council officers have been analysing the report all weekend. It is anticipated that the report will be publicly available this Wednesday. It is a shame that the documents were not put into the public domain…
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How to wreck a busway
The Northern Busway has been an outstanding success. The project started in the late 1990s and was officially opened in 2008. It was credited with initially removing 500 cars per rush hour. The parks around the stations were full shortly after the opening and drastic improvements in congestion around the Harbour Bridge were observed. The busway works…