Awaiting Decision on Auckland Council’s Plan Change 26

UPDATE 11th October 2021

Plan Change 26

Auckland Council withdrew this Plan Change in May 2021 despite the many months of resources and work put into it by planning staff and dozens of submitters including Devonport Heritage.

The Plan Change aimed to manage the discrepancies between the rules of Special Character Area overlays and the underlying zones.

The main reason given for the withdrawal of the plan change was that the National Policy Statement on Urban Development had taken precedent as it would involve making changes to Special Character Area zoning.

---

15th September 2020

This plan change was brought about because of the confusion and difficulties of having two sets of rules governing the older heritage areas of Auckland.

One is the underlying area zone and the other the Special Character Area Overlay.

Auckland Council had invented the dual rule system for the Unitary Plan but planners had been applying them wrongly. It took the Environment Court to point out the council bungle and order it to correct the system.

So Plan Change 26 is the result. It attempts to clarify when to apply which standards and rules from the underlying zone or the overlay. Last month the hearing panel heard submissions from a wide variety of planners, property owners and groups like Devonport Heritage.

These are the main reasons Devonport Heritage opposed the plan change:

1. Plan Change 26 is a band-aid attempt to fix a flawed system.

   The council should in fact do away with the overlay system and introduce individual zones for each character area of the city, with one set of rules. This was the system that was in place before the introduction of the Auckland Unitary Plan.

   The simplicity of one set of rules that reflects the character of the heritage area is the only effective and common sense way of dealing with genuine heritage protection. The overlay system has been an abject failure as it has created huge complexity and confusion to planning rules.

   One set of rules would benefit property owners, architects and planners, lower costs, and give certainty and clarity.

2. The plan change will allow greater Building Heights and Densities in the side and rear of character properties in areas like Devonport. This will have a detrimental effect on the heritage character of the buildings and the streetscape.

3. The proposed Height to Boundary rules are more permissive and will allow for bulky extensions on heritage houses that will impact on neighbours’ amenity and have a greater visual impact. It will result in original houses being dominated by large side and rear extensions and lead to a type of façadism.

4. The changes to the Rear Yard rules will allow building to occur only one metre from a neighbours’ boundary. This will have a severe visual and privacy impact on neighbours and reduce their amenity values.

Summary

• The council is trying to manage two sets of often conflicting rules. The proposed Plan Change 26 will not solve the problem.

• It whittles down heritage protections and allows for greater bulk and density on character sites.

• It will have a detrimental impact on character houses and neighbours’ amenity values.

• The only effective way of dealing with this is to introduce robust heritage zones for the older areas of Auckland.

The hearing has formally closed and we now await the panel’s decision.

An unsympathetic rear and side extension to a heritage house in Devonport.