19 January 2005

Better protection for city under new central area plan

Auckland City has approved the central area section of the Auckland District Plan in part, following endorsement from the Environment Court.

The plan will come into effect on Wednesday 19 January 2005 and is the culmination of a 16 year planning process undertaken by Auckland City.

“This completes council’s district planning transition from the former Town and Country Planning Act to the Resource Management Act,” says senior planner Dave Sanders.

The central area section is the third and final section of the district plan, following the Hauraki Gulf Islands section, approved in 1996 and the Isthmus section approved in 1999.

Mr Sanders, who has been involved in the development of the central area plan since its original notification in 1997 says, "The plan will deliver resource management objectives for Auckland’s CBD and will provide a strong platform for improving the quality of development in the city.”

The new plan is based on the “precincts” strategy, protecting key character areas within the CBD like Queen St Valley, Karangahape Road, Viaduct Harbour and the university. “The new rules help protect the character and scale of these areas with, for example, building design and appearance controls and building frontage height control restrictions,” says Mr Sanders. “Urban design principles have been applied to the plan, reinforcing the personality and scale of the character areas of the central city.”

Aspects of the city not included in the central area plan at this stage will be the Britomart Precinct, the Western Reclamation and the Victoria Park Market Precinct. These areas are either currently under review or will be reviewed in the near future.

“We look back with a great feeling of achievement after passing this milestone of making the plan operative and finalising Auckland’s District Plan," says Mr Sanders.

ENDS

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