Residents reject nimby tag and explain opposition to 15-storey tower blocks

Friday, 12 September 2025

Michael Neill expresses concern about Mt Eden losing its character to proposed high-rise development.

Rebecca Bell values its heritage and recognises the need for planned housing growth.

Councillor Christine Fletcher warns government of potential backlash from Auckland voters on housing intensification.

Michael Neill has watched Mt Eden change since the early 1970s, from a “rundown area” to a suburb where families plant trees, fight for parks and feel fiercely protective of their streets.

Now, as Auckland Council weighs up proposed planning rules which would allow 15-storey tower blocks across the suburb and far beyond, he and his neighbours are speaking up about what they fear could be lost — and how change should be done.

“I moved here in 1973. This was a rundown area. I'd been renting in Parnell, and that was an area that was slowly moving up,” Neill says.

“It's hard to believe how undesirable inner-city Auckland was considered to be in those days. This was the only area in inner-city Auckland, reasonably close to where I was teaching, that was feasible.

“It was only after I lived here for a while that I began to appreciate the kind of neighbourhood it was and might become.”

The proposed rules are a revision to Plan Change 78, the guidelines for housing intensification in Auckland.

They’ve prompted heated debate across the city, with David Seymour organising public meetings in Parnell and Remuera.

The revised plan change would significantly level up what can be built - and where.

The government is insisting on the council creating rules that would allow the building of 2 million new homes.

So the council wants to rezone parts of the city, with a particular focus on the areas around train stations.

And a redeveloped Maungawhau Station at the northern tip of Mt Eden will be a key stop on the City Rail Link when it opens next year.

In a Herald column last week, Housing Minister Chris Bishop said: “Cities aren’t museums. Our streets should not be shrines to the past.”

Neill rejects the idea that residents are simply resisting progress and says he found Bishop’s column disturbing.

“I wrote back to him and said, ‘if you look at the great cities of the world, Paris and London, these are cities that are careful to preserve their architectural heritage even as they grow’.”

He’s also wary of how the debate is being framed. “One of the things that's come up in the course of the discussion around this is that this is typically an example of nimbyism being practised by people of a certain age who've got their house and they don't care about younger people.”

A young family’s perspective

Newer Mt Eden residents like Rebecca Bell, who emigrated from Manchester, says that caricature doesn’t fit their street.

“We moved here because it's a pretty area, lots of heritage buildings, and the villas I adore because we don't have those in the UK,” she says.

“But similarly, in the UK, they do a great job of preserving places so that people want to visit them, and people are up in arms when things like this happen.”

Practicalities matter too. “Another reason was that we're close to the hospital. My husband's a doctor and I'm a nurse, so we just like the location. We like the train station to get into town, and it's amazing that things are developing.”

Bell is clear that growth is needed. “I know that we need more housing for people, and my kids, hopefully, are going to stay in Auckland or stay close to me, and they'll need somewhere, but they won't be able to afford it.”

But she wants change thought through. “It has to be planned properly, you can't just have 15 storeys then a little villa, 15 storeys then another little villa. Also, with the schools, Mt Albert Grammar and Auckland Grammar, they're already full,” she says.

Josh Dalton, who lives in neighbouring Kingsland with his young family, believes progress should not come at the cost of Auckland’s historic houses.

“We in Kingsland are not against intensification and believe strongly in the need for affordable housing,” he says.

“However, we firmly believe this can be achieved without sacrificing Tāmaki’s incredible heritage and the homes Kiwi families sacrificed so much for.

“Why would you destroy properties of such cultural significance when so little remains?”

Political pressure and local concerns

Albert-Eden-Pukeāpapa ward councillor Christine Fletcher says she has been inundated by people concerned about the proposed changes.

She sees a major flaw in the speed and detail of what’s been proposed, and what councillors will have to vote for on September 24.

“If you look at the evolution of Auckland, it was around these original tram lines. So there is some logic in some of what they're doing, but it's not finessed, because it's been so rushed that there isn't the knowledge of what green space would be around the 15 storeys.

“We've got ministers sitting in Wellington who have not done their due diligence on what might be appropriate.

“I keep coming back to why they are insisting on this target of two million more dwellings? The reality is that Auckland has only had, in recent times, 20,000 new properties being built each year, if you're lucky.”

Fletcher also objects to the way opponents are portrayed and accused of scaremongering.

“It's very easy to throw stones,” she said.

“It's almost trying to encourage the politics of jealousy, because we know that people here have a strong sense of social justice… We've got people living in bus shelters just around the corner from me, and we're all trying to do our bit. But the way that this debate has been framed will not actually address the affordability; it's just pitting people against others.”

Fletcher also warned the government that it could be risking its chances of re-election next year.

“I would suggest that if I were still in government, I would look very closely at what saw the Labour government being booted out,” the former National MP said.

“It was Aucklanders … and a lot of that was their rejection of Plan Change 78, so my advice to anyone within the current government is that you impose this at your peril.

Albert-Eden Local Board member Kendyl Smith says

she’s had a lot of emails from Kingsland and Mt Eden, and people are not against intensification.

“There are probably some nimbys, but there are nimbys everywhere. I don't think it's that. It's more about these are their homes that they've invested in… They should really be able to have a say on what happens.

“As someone on the local board, I want to bring my community together, not tear them apart.”