17 September 2004

Review of city heritage zones approved

Auckland City’s Finance and Corporate Business Services Committee yesterday approved the allocation of $180,000 for the review of residential zone 1 and 2b in the District Plan (Isthmus section).

This review was recommended by the City Development Committee last week in response to recent concerns raised by residents in Herne Bay who have petitioned council to address the protection of residential buildings.

“Guidelines and new planning rules for development in residential zones 1 and 2b will be investigated as part of this review to ensure that the objectives of the district plan are being met," says Councillor Juliet Yates, chairperson of the City Development Committee. “This investigation may result in plan changes.

“Auckland City is moving with urgency on this issue in light of the swiftly changing face of the city and the current development pressure,” she says. “We want to ensure that while the city grows we are still retaining its essential character.”

Residential zones 1 and 2b are special character zones with associated development guidelines.

Planning approval is required to undertake building projects in these zones, including fencing and walls in front yards. Planning requirements control the location, extent, form, mass, proportion and materials of building on a property, and ensure that any new development does not adversely affect neighbours or the character of the surrounding area.

ENDS

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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.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>