Auckland's Unitary Plan to be released: What does it all mean?

Tuesday, 26 July 2016

The Unitary Plan is likely to allow for more apartments and townhouses in the city's central suburbs.

Aucklanders are poised to learn their future when the council releases the region's long-awaited new plan on Wednesday.

The Unitary Plan is the result of five years of work, 249 days of hearings and 1.5 million submission points.

It will be the blueprint for Auckland's development, offering the definitive word on controversial topics such as whether the city should upzone its central suburbs to allow for more intensive housing, or extend the urban limit.

It replaces the district plans of the eight legacy Auckland councils, removing inconsistencies and providing a global planning framework for the merged super city.

The government says poor urban planning by Auckland Council is the main cause of the city's housing shortage.

* Auckland's long-awaited Unitary Plan is delivered to the council

Character Coalition spokeswoman Sally Hughes hopes the document will allow for intensification as well as protecting character and heritage.

'We don't believe it's an either or,' she said.

Members of the coalition were worried about home affordability for future generations, but did not want to see pepper-pot development such as apartment blocks in a street of villas.

'There needs to be good planning control so that it's not developer-led but its more community-based, council-led.'

Youth environmental movement Generation Zero has pushed for greater density and more affordable housing types.

'We can't be building tens of thousands of homes hours away from where want to live and work, that's just going to increase congestion and rates and no Aucklander wants that,' Auckland director Leroy Beckett said.

Here is a quick guide to the Unitary Plan is and what it means for Aucklanders.

WHAT IS THE UNITARY PLAN?

The Unitary Plan is the new overall planning document for the Auckland region. It replaces the district plans of the eight old Auckland councils, and work started on it shortly after the super city was created in 2010.

It will be the rule book for all kinds of things, including zoning, heritage protection, the metropolitan urban limit, the port, and protecting view shafts.

WHO DECIDES WHAT GOES IN THE UNITARY PLAN?

The government passed special laws covering the development of a new plan for Auckland. Under these laws an Independent Hearings Panel, headed by an Environment Court judge, recommends a plan to Auckland Council.

The panel delivered its recommendations to the council on Friday following tens of thousands of submissions from interested parties, including the council itself.

IS THE PLAN A FOREGONE CONCLUSION?

No. Councillors now have until August 19 to consider the panel's recommendations and decide whether to accept them. The plan was delivered on Friday, and council officials have spent the past four days in a lockup going through it and highlighting key issues.

Councillors will be briefed on Wednesday, and then spend a number of days in meetings making their decisions.

DO AUCKLANDERS GET A CHANCE TO APPEAL ANY PART OF THE PLAN?

There are limited rights of appeal. The parts of the plan the council accepts can't be appealed, except on points of law in the High Court.

If the council rejects one of the panel's recommendations, anyone who made a submission on that topic can appeal to the Environment Court.

If the council accepts a recommendation that is outside of submissions made to the panel, anyone can appeal to the Environment Court if they will be unduly prejudiced by that decision. The appeal period closes on September 16.

WHEN DO THE PUBLIC GET TO SEE IT?

The council will make the plan publicly available on Wednesday afternoon on its website.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE COUNCIL DOESN'T PASS THE UNITARY PLAN?

If councillors reject major topics – for example, proposals to upzone some of the central suburbs – Auckland will have no working plan.

In this situation, the old district and city plans of the legacy councils, plus the proposed Unitary Plan, would have to be taken into account in processing consents. That would make consenting difficult and costly and go down like a lead balloon.

The government says poor urban planning is a major reason for Auckland's housing shortage and it has warned the council that if it doesn't pass a coherent urban plan it will intervene. If the government were to step in it would be likely to happen before the local body elections on October 8.