Planning experts accuse Helen Clark of NIMBYism over her opposition to Auckland housing plan

Saturday, 4 July 2026

Helen Clark argues too many homes will have their special character protections removed under Auckland Council’s new zoning plan.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has been accused of embracing 'NIMBYism' after opposing plans to allow more housing in Auckland's central suburbs.

Clark has criticised Auckland Council's proposed housing intensification plan, arguing it would unnecessarily remove heritage protections from thousands of Special Character homes.

Planners and experts have challenged her arguments, highlighting the need for a balanced approach while achieving housing density in our biggest city.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has been accused of 'NIMBYism' after opposing plans to allow more housing in Auckland's central suburbs.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop and planning experts argue her criticism of Auckland Council's plan to re-zone city land to provide capacity for 1.4 - 1.7 million new homes (PC120), runs counter to decades of urban planning evidence.

Planning experts favour central growth saying it delivers higher productivity, lower transport cost, drops infrastructure costs like pipes and roads compared to building in new areas, and provides social benefits.

In an opinion piece published this week, Clark argued the PC120 proposal threatens Auckland's historic character suburbs, including the neighbourhood she lives in near Eden Park.

'Along with more than 20,000 other Aucklanders,' she wrote, 'I live in what is known as a character home, a house which has been identified for a long time as one of a number of special heritage properties…

'…these protect the villa-lined streetscapes of Ponsonby, the bungalows of Mt Eden and the workers' cottages of Freemans Bay and Grey Lynn and more.'

Clark argues the Council's proposal would remove protection from thousands of Special Character homes as the city pursues greater housing density, particularly around major transport routes.

'PC120 would land most of the intensification inside 10km of the city centre. While affordable housing must be the goal of future planning, these areas are not where people who need an affordable home can, or perhaps even want to, buy.'

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said it was 'unusual to see progressive hero Helen Clark arguing against progress', particularly on an issue he described as fundamental to New Zealand's future.

'Strong economic evidence shows that intensification in high-demand areas – near public transport, jobs, cafes, parks, stadiums and other amenities – is one of the most effective tools we have for achieving housing affordability,' Bishop said.

'It works by spreading the high cost of well-located land across more dwellings.'

Responding directly to Clark's argument that people needing affordable housing would not buy in Auckland's inner suburbs, Bishop said the opposite was true.

'The reason people who need an affordable home can't buy in suburbs closest to the city centre right now is precisely because we've restricted the density and building that would make them affordable.

Mark Abbott is the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

'PC120 is how we change that – it's not a reason to stop, it's the reason to start.'

Mark Abbott, chief executive of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects, says Clark's position is difficult to reconcile.

'Look, I'm really surprised that that a politician and a social influencer like Clark isn't really embracing the opportunity to think about how Auckland could be developed as a more central, centric, and socially cohesive environment,' Abbott says.

'I do think that largely it is NIMBYism, and probably not, not nasty NIMBYism. I think it's just this: we've got to this level of comfort with our surroundings.'

Asked whether greater density would undermine the character of Auckland's older central suburbs, Abbott says; 'no, absolutely not. I certainly don't. In fact, if anything, I think it can be sensitively enhanced.'

Emeritus Professor of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland Errol Haarhoff agrees heritage and density can co-exist.

He believes Clark is 'focussing on one part of the city. It's broader than that. You can't just focus on simply meeting the needs of one small part of the city.'

The yet to open City Rail Link cost more than $5 billion and town planners say it’s critical we make the most of that spend by building homes around it.

'There's always with these kind of things a NIMBY element which says, oh I agree, we need to intensify as long as it's not in my backyard.'

Clark also argued Aucklanders are quite happy to live in further-out areas, saying: 'Auckland is a collection of metropolitan centres, including Takapuna, Henderson, and Manukau, and people want to live and work near them just as much, or more than, the central city.'

'I don't understand that argument really,' Haarhoff says. 'More jobs are in the city centre and PC120 facilitates more affordable homes there.'

'I just struggle to see why we would force people into outer suburbs to only add to travel time and less accessibility to schools, hospitals, and the like, when we could be making some very different and more sensible decisions,' adds Abbott.

'(Successful cities) tend to start in the middle, and focus on the middle…. But we've got developments around Pokeno and South Auckland that don't have adequate access to hospitals or public transport.'

Abbott points to the $5.5-billion City Rail Link, which will run through Mt Eden close to Clark's home, as an example of infrastructure that should support substantially more housing.

Master Builders chief executive Ankit Sharma agrees, and says we must get better per-dollar use of our infrastructure alongside housing density, to stop everything becoming too expensive.

'Look, I get it, you buy a property in a place, and then you're paying for the characteristics. And then a zoning change completely changes it. It's actually quite stressful. But from a city's perspective, council's perspective, they have a bigger challenge.'

'New Zealand could continue to go down the path of the quarter acre dream, which is what we used to do 50 years back. But that's not the reality today.“

Clark promptly replied to Stuff’s request for comment, saying: “there is no need to destroy Auckland’s special character areas. Auckland Council has previously provided sufficient space in its Unitary Plan for new builds.”

Auckland Council’s published figures indicate 4,735 properties would lose special character protection under the plan, going from 20,466 to 15,731.