More of Wellington to be protected from dense housing, as council backs down following heritage lobbying

Wednesday, 16 June 2021

Protected heritage areas in Wellington suburbs such as Mt Victoria are set to be expanded to safeguard against new demolition rules. (File photo)

Wellington City Council has watered down plans to allow denser housing in parts of the inner city, after fierce opposition from heritage groups seeking to stop “character” homes from being demolished.

The council has been proposing to remove demolition protections for many pre-1930s homes in the city’s inner suburbs, such as Mt Victoria and Newtown, to free up space to house 22,000 extra people over the next 30 years.

The plans are part of the council’s spatial plan, which proposes to increase building height allowances to encourage the development of medium and high-density apartment buildings across the city over the next three decades.

But a report presented to city councillors in a private briefing last week, and obtained by Stuff, shows the council has backed down on initial plans for the inner-city, increasing identified “character precinct” areas by nearly half.

The protected area for Newtown is set to be expanded by almost 47 per cent. (File photo)

* Welcome to Wellington in 30 years, when quiet suburban streets make way for six-storey apartment buildings

The protected heritage area in Mt Cook is set to increase by almost 15 per cent. (File photo)

* Wellington City councillor calls out property-owning 'NIMBY' colleagues

Future developments in these areas would be restricted to a maximum of three storeys, compared with up to six storeys elsewhere in the inner-city suburbs.

It comes after housing and heritage advocates clashed over the plan, specifically balancing protecting the character of the city against addressing the city’s chronic housing shortage.

Buildings up to eight storeys high have been proposed for the Johnsonville town centre. (File photo)

The council estimates up to 8248 extra homes will be needed to house expected population growth in the inner-city suburbs, 6372 of which are planned for Te Aro.

Other inner-city suburbs include Aro Valley, Berhampore, Mt Cook, Mt Victoria, Newtown, and Thorndon.

City-wide, up to 31,092 homes are expected to be needed to accommodate population growth of up to 82,719.

The council report, which will be made public next week, shows the protected area in Berhampore will increase from 7.4 hectares to 19.9ha following public feedback on the council’s draft plan.

Separate council documents show it is expected the suburb will need to squeeze in another 462 homes over the next 30 years.

Newtown’s protected precinct is proposed to grow from 25ha to 37ha, while Mt Victoria’s protected area is set to rise from 19ha to 26ha. Between them, these two suburbs are expected to need an extra 947 homes over the next three decades.

A new protected area has also been included for the upmarket suburb of Kelburn, with 2.2ha allocated there.

The council’s draft spatial plan was developed to accommodate forecast population growth, and was changed significantly last year following the introduction of a government policy directing councils to provide enough development to meet housing demand.

Wellington City Council has watered down plans to open the capital to denser housing after opposition from heritage groups seeking to shield character houses from demolition. (File photo)

The policy directed councils to enable six-storey-plus buildings within a “walkable catchment” of existing and planned rapid transit stops, and city centre and metropolitan centre boundaries.

Historic Places Wellington chairwoman Felicity Wong says suburbs like Thorndon had been “carpet bombed” with “inappropriate levels” of development in the draft spatial plan.

It did not specify what a walkable catchment was, but the council has deemed it to be within 10 minutes of the Johnsonville and Tawa railway stations, and within five minutes of all other railway stations.

It has also deemed it to be within 10 minutes of the edges of the central city and the Johnsonville and Kilbirnie town centres.

The council’s June report said development in the next 10 years would be targeted towards the central city, Newtown, Johnsonville, and Tawa.

Councillors will discuss the changes next week.

Eleanor West, spokeswoman for advocacy group A City for People, questioned who the character areas were being protected for.

“Our councillors talk about having a good, diverse culture here and keeping that – but we’ve already lost it. So many people are moving away,” West said.

“Among young people, Wellington has a reputation of being a place you can study if your parents are wealthy.”

Historic Places Wellington chairwoman Felicity Wong said suburbs like Thorndon and Mt Cook had been “carpet bombed” with “inappropriate levels” of development in the draft spatial plan.

“I’m not surprised the council has made changes, they needed to make changes to bring it back into the real world,” Wong said.

The Wellington City Council's draft Spatial Plan aims to provide more housing across the city as the population increases (First published in 2020).

“It’s fake news that the draft spatial plan would have led to affordable housing or reduced emissions, it would not have done that.”

Protected inner-city areas (proposed)

Newtown – 37 hectares (up 47 per cent)

Mt Victoria – 26.1 hectares (up 38 per cent)

Thorndon – 20.5 hectares (up 12 per cent)

Berhampore – 19.9 hectares (up 169 per cent)

Mt Cook – 12.8 hectares (up 15 per cent)

Aro Valley – 10.1 hectares (up 35 per cent)

Kelburn – 2.2 hectares (new)

- Additional reporting by Mandy Te