Mt Albert locals band together to fight state house scheme

Photo / Martin Sykes

Mt Albert residents have upped the ante in their opposition to Housing New Zealand's plans for a Special Housing Area in their suburb.

The state agency wants to redevelop the 34-unit lot at 33 Asquith Ave, which runs parallel with New North Rd near Mt Albert Grammar School and where a small group of run-down places will be replaced by a much larger residential scheme.

But worried residents have formed the Asquith Community Group in a bid to get Housing NZ to engage with them in planning a development which doesn't make their lives difficult.

Their website, asquith.org.nz, aims to rally more support and pressure Housing NZ to discuss the plans, but the state agency says its scheme will be high quality, designed by award-winning Cheshire Architects and is still being developed.

Housing NZ says it is also sensitive to the existing neighbourhood and once it has initial plans, it will present them to locals.

But the new website lists many concerns, including the group's desire to be involved with the planning and concept ideas for the site.

Albert-Eden Local Board chairman Peter Haynes praised the group and also expressed concerns about plans.

"I think that the neighbours' list is a splendid example of what the community can come up with when given the opportunity. The concerns raised by the neighbours are very close to those that the board has discussed and raised with council officers," he said.

Residents listed alarm about the number of units being planned, that they could be out of character with the existing neighbourhood, the need to preserve an existing corner park which has mature trees and retain a path through that park, provision of adequate off-street carparking, the bulk and location of new units and what would happen to a stacked stone boundary wall.

Residents said they expect the existing run-down units to be knocked down soon.

"We are expecting Housing NZ to tell us any day now when the demolition will go ahead. We're expecting it to be quite early in the new year and ... HNZ's chief executive has told us the corporation will have architectural 'options' to put before the community 'early in 2015'. We're thinking that will be March/April rather than January/February," the group said.

Nigel Stevenson has been appointed chairman of the group which says the situation represents "a classic conflict between a land-owner's right to develop property, a community's need to have a meaningful say, a government's concern at the lack of new housing and a council's wish to plan a city for tomorrow.

"The community is the meat in the sandwich - with little power to influence and left to live with the result.

"The Asquith Community Group was formed to fill the information void over the future of the land and to act as a community voice."

Asquith Ave

• Mt Albert state house redevelopment of 34-unit lot
• Scale of new scheme unknown
• Housing NZ in design phase
• Residents fighting to be heard
• New website www.asquith.org.nz.