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Speaker 1: So it was a big day at Auckland Council yesterday

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Speaker 1: and I think a good day. The Policy and Planning

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Speaker 1: Committee meant for most of yesterday to thrash out the

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Speaker 1: future of Auckland's housing, debating where and how Auckland are

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Speaker 1: going to plan for more homes, and the Council voted

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Speaker 1: eighteen to five to discard the PC seventy eight and

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Speaker 1: notify the PC one twenty or vote for the PC

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Speaker 1: one twenty, which basically means the three story townhouses seen

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Speaker 1: increasingly all over Auckland suburbs are on the way up

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Speaker 1: and the high rises and greater intensification around key CRL

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Speaker 1: stations and transport corridors are in This is of course

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Speaker 1: highly contentious and where you lean in the debate may

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Speaker 1: depend on what neighborhood you live in. Residents of wealthy

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Speaker 1: inner city suburbs like Mount Eden, Parnell, Herne Bay and

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Speaker 1: Green Bay will likely have reservations about more high rise

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Speaker 1: apartments in their neighborhoods, citing a loss of character, loss

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Speaker 1: of light, and an increasing demand on infrastructure. The new

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Speaker 1: plan does retain seventy three percent of all the special

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Speaker 1: character areas established under the twenty sixteen Auckland Unitary Plans,

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Speaker 1: so that isn't too bad. The new plan is also

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Speaker 1: about the council to down zone in some areas, and

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty twenty three flooding taught us that it's

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Speaker 1: well past time we stopped further housing development in areas

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Speaker 1: we know are prone to flooding and coastal erosion. This

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Speaker 1: is a no brainer. It's also cheaper to build where

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Speaker 1: good supporting infrastructure already exists, rather than it is to

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Speaker 1: create new housing areas where infrastructure has to be developed

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Speaker 1: from scratch. In particular, given the cost of the CRL,

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Speaker 1: it makes sense to have as many people living near

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Speaker 1: it and benefiting from it as possible, or, as the

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Speaker 1: Mayor said, there's no point in spending six billion on

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Speaker 1: something if there's nobody on the damn thing. Even though

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Speaker 1: the council meeting voted in favor eighteen to five, it

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean there wasn't plenty of discussion around the council table.

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Speaker 1: Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson asked for conditions around high towers

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Speaker 1: and I think this was a sensible thing to do.

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Speaker 1: She suggested tall apartments need to be set back and

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Speaker 1: have communal areas and facilities. The Mayor supported the amendment,

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Speaker 1: saying they need to be parking and commercial activity on

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Speaker 1: the lower levels, and so that was incorporated into the

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Speaker 1: main motion. I mean car parking is essential, right. Counselor

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Speaker 1: Christine Fletcher, though, didn't have quite the same luck with

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Speaker 1: her amendment when she asked for greater consultation and for

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Speaker 1: the plan change to be publicly notified. At present, public

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Speaker 1: consultation will begin on November third close on December nineteen.

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Speaker 1: It is quick Fletcher's amendment would have drad consultation out

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Speaker 1: until the middle of next year. To be honest, yesterday

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Speaker 1: I thought the Council would take the safe option and

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Speaker 1: extend consultation, But after much debate about what Minister Chris

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Speaker 1: Bishop would think about all this, I think there was

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Speaker 1: a bit of mind reading going on. This amendment was

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Speaker 1: voted down fifteen to eight. So while debate was generally

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Speaker 1: a bit dry, the day did come with some interesting rhetoric.

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Speaker 1: Counselor Morris Williams thought both options were unacceptable, saying it's

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Speaker 1: a choice between a firing squad and a lethal injection.

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Speaker 1: Rather surprisingly, he voted for the plan sure which option

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Speaker 1: he considered this to be for more from Early Edition

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Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, Listen live to news talks it'd be

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