Funding to boost heritage planning approved

Auckland City Council Combined Committees have today approved an additional $150,000 funding for heritage planning.

This funding will enable the heritage division to undertake a city wide heritage inventory to identify significant buildings and in subsequent years, with additional funding, schedule these sites. Buildings will be assessed according to strict criteria, and A and B categories will be listed in the District Plan.

The committee also requested that the Auckland City website display a current list of category A and B heritage buildings.

“While Auckland City has one of the largest dedicated heritage teams in New Zealand, we would like to achieve more for heritage protection in the city,” says Councillor Juliet Yates, chairperson of the City Development Committee. “Major historic buildings in the central city are scheduled in the district plan, and this new funding will help in assessing the range and extent of heritage buildings throughout the suburbs.”

The heritage team at Auckland City has recently been audited by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and was found to represent best practice in New Zealand.

“Auckland City would like to build on this reputation, “ said Mrs Yates. “By approving this funding we are assuring the future of robust and detailed heritage protection in Auckland.”

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

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