KEY POINTS:
Auckland leaders John Banks and Mike Lee have joined the fight to stop the Auckland District Health Board demolishing an historic Green Lane Hospital building.
Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, is also concerned at the impending loss of the century-old Building 5 and called for a report from heritage officials.
This follows a last-minute appeal to the Environment Court to overturn permission by Auckland City Council to demolish the building for an asphalt carpark for 30 vehicles.
Auckland City Mayor Mr Banks yesterday took the rare step of criticising council staff for allowing the building to be demolished for the sake of one heritage point.
"It's bureaucratic pettifogging ... it's pedantic.
"No one believes that Auckland will be a better place when this building goes and an asphalt carpark arrives," he said.
And Auckland Regional Council chairman Mr Lee took a swipe at his staff for "refusing to lift a finger while our heritage is being systematically pack-raped".
Mr Lee, with backing from parks and heritage committee chairwoman Sandra Lee, has instructed chief executive Peter Winder to look at joining the appeal.
"There is something deeply shameful when a group of nurses are left to take the lead in protecting an important heritage building when we have well-paid people employed to protect heritage studiously looking the other way," Mr Lee said in an email to Mr Winder.
At the moment, medical worker Helen Geary is single-handedly taking on the board after filing an appeal to the Environment Court at the deadline last Thursday. She has the moral backing of more than 50 staff at Green Lane.
"It's 20 years since His Majesty's Theatre was bulldozed for a carpark and I can't believe it's still happening," she said.
Building 5 - designed in 1907 by architect G. W. Allsop with aspects of Queen Anne revival - was added to Auckland City Council's proposed heritage building list in 2006 after being found to have historical significance.
A building needs a score of 50 or more to win the right to protection. In January last year, Building 5 was evaluated at 53 points by the council heritage team.
However, after the hospital authorities objected, the heritage team reassessed the building and came back under the threshold with 49 points.
Ms Geary said she did not have the financial resources to appeal "but someone has to stand up and stop the health board from obliterating our heritage".
She has written to board members, urging a review of a master plan for the Greenlane site and informing them of their obligations under the Resource Management Act and Auckland Regional Policy Statement to preserve heritage resources.
Board chairman Pat Snedden could not be reached for comment.
Previously, health board general counsel Bruce Northey has said there was no funding to maintain the old building, which had become the target of vandals, taggers and thieves.
Auckland City heritage manager George Farrant said, like Mr Banks, he would love to see the building stay "but it won't be by fiddling the books on the scoring".
Mr Farrant said the scoring system was transparent and robust. The council had to run with the 49 point score because the courts expected a high degree of transparency and empirical, clear-headed assessment.
