Devonport Heritage presents petition and submission to Auckland Council

Presented to council by Margot McRae, Chair, Devonport Heritage.

Good morning - I’m here to present a petition signed by over 1800 people who are asking for the whole of Devonport’s Special Character Area to be retained.

Auckland Council opposed the Government’s Housing Density Enabling Act - you said it was unnecessary and would create bad housing. Unfortunately for the city, it was passed.

But changes were made that did give councils the discretion to decide where density exclusions would apply. And Special Character Areas were specifically noted as being a ‘qualifying matter’.

But for some reason council planners have decided only high quality parts of the Special Character Areas should be protected, and the rest deleted.

This assessment process was outlined in meeting minutes from last July.

And they have set a very high bar for staying in the SCA

Why is this measure being used? Nowhere in the legislation does it say only high quality special character should be preserved.

Not all houses in Devonport are high quality heritage homes. There’s 1960’s flats and 1980’s homes dotted among the villas and cottages.

But you simply cannot cherry-pick out parts and exclude them – it’s like removing pieces from a patchwork quilt – it will lose its cohesiveness and form.

If you go down this path the intrinsic historic value of the whole area will be diminished.

Given the widespread change to the built environment that the Act enables across the city, the Special Character Areas are more important now than ever.

These areas tell the story of Auckland - they chart the city’s history- they give Auckland its identity.

And Special Character Areas will be more valuable left intact rather than reduced in size and cut into disparate pieces. If their values are to remain they should be protected, enhanced and managed, not built out or overbuilt.

The low-rise, open streetscape of Devonport and its waterfront needs to be respected.

Building height and bulk is crucial to this.

Three storey developments right to property boundaries will totally disrupt this largely single or two storey landscape.

Protecting character is about the collective strength and cohesion of the area. Picking off bits of it is a form of pepper-potting which council leaders said they would not allow.

Many petitioners are not even from Devonport but they value it enormously. They can’t be called nimbys.

Many point out that Devonport is a hugely popular visitor destination, a place they land their visitors love coming to. Not every building they see by is historic but it doesn’t matter, it’s the heritage landscape that impresses.

One petitioner, heritage architect Jeremy Salmond says the council’s assessment method of SCA areas by individual buildings is incomplete because it ignores other urban design matters which are fundamental to understanding special character.

Essentially he says the council approach is flawed and that the presence of non-heritage buildings does not diminish the value of a character area.

In fact he believes this approach could be seen as a strategy for removing housing from Auckland’s SCAs.

I have attached his opinion here today and I urge you to read it before you decide on these matters.

This council has said it wants to retain special character areas – if you’re true to your word you will do that. But that means doing it properly. It means keeping ones like Devonport intact.

As the comments in the petition show, many Aucklanders do not want historic areas like Devonport to be decimated.

Please read them – it will remind you that your job is to work for the people of this city and the future of this city.

Thank you for your time.