Planning framework offers unique insights for new council

Auckland city’s local character and identity is the foundation of Auckland City Council’s award- winning future planning framework, which has now been updated to include three new neighbourhood plans for how communities and suburbs could develop over the next forty years.

“We hope the new framework will provide positive direction to the new Auckland Council to ensure that local communities grow and develop in a way that retains their unique characteristics and identity,” said Councillor Graeme Mulholland, City Development Committee deputy chairperson and chairperson of the political working party which oversaw the project.

“It is the culmination of two years of detailed research, wide-ranging stakeholder input and community consultation,” he says.

The plans include strategies for how and where growth should occur, how ecological, environmental and built heritage should be protected, and how specific areas within the isthmus can retain their unique character and identity. The City Development Committee adopted the framework, with minor amendments, last Thursday.

The council worked closely with the communities involved to develop three types of plans that cover the whole city, eleven individual area / neighbourhood plans and three street-level plans based around the centres of Onehunga, Church Street-Neilson Street and Pt Chevalier-Western Springs.

Complete with a series of 16 position papers representing a suggested planning approach, the framework will provide the new Auckland Council with a substantial body of information and advice that may assist challenges that lie ahead, including a new district plan for the whole region.

The framework, which has received the New Zealand Planning Institute’s top award for best practice planning, is to be published in its updated form as Future Planning Framework Version 2.1. It will be available for download from www.aucklandcity.govt.nz and www.itsmybackyard.co.nz in early August.

Mr Mulholland added: “It has been an extremely productive journey. It’s a first of its kind in New Zealand planning and a wonderful tribute to all who have contributed – planners, councillors, and development professionals alike, and, of course, the community.”

The background to the future planning framework including maps and summaries of public feedback is available on www.itsmybackyard.co.nz

ENDS

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