Neighbour fights new Ryman site

Ryman Healthcare chief executive Simon Challies. Photo / Natalie Slade

A neighbour is opposing a new Auckland Ryman Healthcare village, saying views will be blocked and roads jammed with traffic when hundreds of elderly people move in.

Marge Mason, who lives in Waipa St overlooking the 3.1ha Birkenhead site which has been operated as the Fernz conference and accommodation centre, said she and others in her area opposed the huge North Shore village where 413 people will live in towers up to nine levels high.

A Ryman spokesman rejected that criticism, saying the consent was already approved.

A hearing had been held and four independent planning commissioners had given consent to the application, he said.

But Mason fears subsidence on the steep cliff where her house stands.

She had a chance to object to the scheme and did so because although her house is on a hill above the site, the biggest tower was so tall it would loom two levels over her house, she said.

"It's the lack of sun I'm worried about. Three pensioners live here and we just won't get any sun in the winter in the afternoon."

The towers were six, eight and nine levels high, Mason said.

"These are monsters. They're going to all overshadow each other so they won't get any sunshine down there," she said.

The site, in a deep gully, is between Waipa Rd, Verran Rd, Rangatira Rd and Kauri Rd.

The Ryman spokesman said all villages met fire safety codes and regulations.

"If you look at the application, we're decontaminating and remediating the land so the landfill that was there is being scooped out and taken away," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a council spokesman said hearings were being held into Ryman's proposal for its One Tree Hill/Greenlane site on Campbell Rd.

The council received 432 submissions, 164 of which opposed the proposal, he said.

Birkenhead plan
*Ryman Healthcare has consent for retirement village.
*Neighbour concerned about negative effects.
*413 elderly people to live on 3.1ha site.
*Tower blocks to rise up to 9 levels.