Brian Rudman: The rich are revolting, and it's not a pretty sight

It's not just the poor of Panmure who are rising up at the thought of intensive housing in their backyards. The rich of Remmers are getting twitchy as well.

In an extraordinary press release last Thursday, well-heeled Action Hobson councillor Christine Caughey said that, instead of providing "low-cost chicken coops on some of the country's most expensive real estate", the city should improve transport so people can have the "choice" to live out on the "soft borders of Auckland City".

So that's what "Hobson's Choice" is, said an incredulous colleague when I sought a second opinion.

To avoid being accused of quoting out of context, here are the two key paragraphs from the statement, which was headlined "Action Hobson says 'no' to affordable housing package". Affordable housing, said Ms Caughey, "risks becoming the answer to the wrong question. Families need dignity, open space and community, not low-cost chicken coops on some of the country's most expensive real estate.

"The soft border of Auckland City, with its surrounding cities, mean people have choice on where they want to live. We should be providing this choice by accelerating and enabling the necessary transport infrastructures. The affordable housing package has removed money from the transport targeted rate ... "

Maybe I'm being ultra-cynical, but the only choice Ms Caughey seems to be offering is a one-way bus ticket to Otara. And she wants to grab the $1 million earmarked for an investigation into affordable housing, to ensure the buses diverting the poor away from Remuera will be there to run on time.

The talk of low-cost chicken coops about to spread over the backyards of expensive areas like her 1809 sq m Seaview Rd estate is just scaremongery. Unless, that is, it's hidden in some secret document I'm unaware of.

All I could find in the wishy-washy wording of the council's $1 million affordable housing package paper is a desire to seek partnerships with both public and private housing providers with a view to increasing the stock of affordable housing "in areas with good accessibility to town centres, community facilities and public transport". The focus is to be on "low-income working families".

Far from creating the instant slums of Ms Caughey's worst nightmares, the reasoning behind the scheme is to guard against such chicken coops, by employing "high-quality urban design principles and healthy, green and energy efficient construction".

Who would have thought Ms Caughey was a professional town planner who, because of this expertise, was elected chairwoman of the council's environment, heritage and urban form committee.

One wonders what she'll have to say to Marian Hobbs, the minister responsible for urban affairs, at tomorrow's Auckland launch of the national Urban Design Protocol and a report on The Value of Urban Design. Like the poor of Panmure, what Ms Caughey needs to do is drive out to Te Atatu Peninsula and inspect the popular Harbour View estate. It's a successful and attractive housing development created by a partnership between Waitakere City's property development subsidiary and private developers.

Harbour View is the 1990s equivalent of Auckland City's highly successful medium-density Freeman's Bay housing projects of the 1960s and early 1970s. Waitakere City inherited the eastern side of the peninsula from the old harbour board during the local body shake-up of the late 1980s, and decided to develop it as a showcase for residential intensification.

"Harbour View was an opportunity for council to stamp some form of development pattern that would lead the market and show what could be achieved with medium density," says then chief executive Allan McGregor. Hopper Developments came in as joint-venture partners.

In the spirit of Waitakere's eco-city persona, there was a decision to develop high-quality parks and incorporate the adjacent seaside wetlands into the overall project.

Once the first stage was developed and the design and building standards had been set, the private sector was encouraged to take over, subject to covenants and other council guidelines.

Properties in the 370-unit, medium-density development sold faster and for higher value than an adjoining conventional development, and are in big demand.

Sure, they were not pitched at the "affordable" market Auckland City is now talking about, but Harbour View is the acceptable side of intensification. It shows what can be achieved with imagination.

What a disaster that when the chairwoman of Auckland City's urban design committee hears the word intensification, all she can think of is chicken coops ... and old-money mansions.