Jacinda Ardern

List MP based in Auckland Central
Arts, Culture and Heritage Spokesperson

MEDIA STATEMENT

28 July 2016

Council must build on heritage, not destroy it

Auckland Council must move to ensure there are heritage protections in place following recommendations that demolition restrictions be tossed out, Labour’s Arts, Culture and Heritage spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says.

The panel considering the Unitary Plan has recommended removing partial protections for neighbourhoods with houses built before 1944.

“This character overlay was a response to a very real problem – the loss of special character buildings. That need hasn't suddenly disappeared.

“Certainly we need to ensure we build both up and out in order to meet the huge demand for housing, but there are ways to do that without losing the character of our communities.

“Our heritage should not be an either/or. We’re a young country when it comes to built heritage and we should be doing everything we can to preserve what we have.

“The Council now needs to work with urgency to ensure a solution that safeguards heritage in our communities so that it’s not permanently lost,” Jacinda Ardern says.

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