Majority Support for Heritage Areas!
Spokesperson McRae
The Auckland Council feedback results are out and show that around 72% of respondents support Special Character Areas and only 19% oppose them.
This is a huge win for all the Aucklanders who believe that heritage areas are an integral part of the city’s identity and deserve protection.
The council asked the public for their feedback and they cannot ignore these results.
They must now retain more of the character areas that were proposed to lose their protections.
For full council results go to the link https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/housing or our website www.devonportheritage.net - for our concise summary.
A Big Thank You
In the last few months Devonport Heritage has been inundated with messages of support and donations for our fight to retain Devonport’s Special Character Area protections.
We have 40 new members
Our petition was signed by 2500 people
We raised $5500 from our heritage film screenings
We have received nearly $19,000 in donations.
It has been a wonderful response by the people of Devonport who responded immediately to the very real fear that our unique marine suburb could lose its heritage character.
We want to thank you for your support – for your messages and donations and for your attendance at our fund-raising film.
And especially for all of you who filled in the council’s feedback form. Your support has paid off.
It has shown we are not fighting alone but have the strong backing of our community.
Our Submission is on Our Website
You can read our feedback submission on the Special Character Area changes on our website and also the evaluation proposal to make central Devonport an Historic Heritage Area.
This is well worth a look as it contains a concise history of Devonport and a wonderful description of why Devonport is so unique. Go to www.devonportheritage.net
We want to thank urban design expert and architect Richard Reid, conservation architect Jeremy Salmond and resource management planner Dave Serjeant, for their wonderful work in producing such a powerful and persuasive proposal.
Timeline of Next Steps
June - Since there has been a strong pro-heritage response from the public we must now put pressure on Auckland councillors to retain more of the special character protections in the city. Councillors must listen to what the public told them and in the coming weeks we will urge you to email councillors asking them to act to preserve more heritage areas.
22 June - A council workshop on the character areas where any proposed changes will be worked out.
30 June - The crucial Council planning committee meeting where they will make the decision on the direction for the Plan Change.
4 August - The proposed plan change is presented to the Planning Committee for ratification.
22 August - The Plan Change is formally notified and submissions schedule announced. At this point any changes to Special Character Areas become operative and demolitions of formerly protected houses can occur without resource consent even though submissions have not yet been heard.
Late 2022 / 2023 - Submissions begin on Plan Change.