Wayne Brown has 10 new principles for good government he hopes will transform council decision-making. Photo / Alex Burton
This is a transcript of Simon Wilson’s weekly newsletter Love this City – exploring the ideas and events, the reality and the potential of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. To sign up, click here, select Love this City and save your preferences.
“I have wanted to see change in how the council group effectively spends ratepayers’ money on capital projects,” Mayor Wayne Brown announced this week.
“As a result, there are now 10 delivery principles to provide rigour across the council group and ensure decisions on projects and spending are considered carefully.”
Sound good?
The council will now ask itself: 1) Are we solving the right problem? 2) Are we investing the right amount? 3) Can we use standardised designs? 4) Have we set cost limits? 5) Are we choosing the best suppliers? 6) Are we leveraging local suppliers? 7) Can we simplify processes and remove barriers? 8) Are we managing consultation and consultancy costs? 9) Have we independently reviewed the project? 10) Are we still getting value at every stage?
Honestly, were they not doing these things already?
At this point it is possible Brown has achieved a real efficiency breakthrough. It’s also possible officials have produced this list just to humour him. I really don’t know which it is.
But Deputy Mayor and putative mayoral candidate Desley Simpson says she’s on board. “One of my key policies was the need to stop wasting money,” she says. “These principles will help make sure we can consistently deliver projects affordably. It’s a win for Aucklanders.”
My goodness, the Mowbray-Williamses have been busy. One minute billionaire Anna Mowbray and her ex-All Black husband are in the news for a seawall at their Westmere coastal home, which the council says may have “reclaimed” land that isn’t theirs.
Mowbray has told the Herald they are seeking to legalise any unconsented works.
The couple also want to build a helipad on the property, despite 91% of 1400 submissions to the consent hearing for that project being opposed.
And just this week, it emerged they are heading a consortium that wants to build a new stadium at Western Springs. Phew.
The Mowbray-Williamses, along with basketballer Steven Adams and others, want to build a 12,500-seat outdoor stadium on the site of the current speedway track, along with a large indoor venue for basketball and other sports, hospitality and entertainment.
The stadium would become the home of Auckland Football Club and the consortium says they’ll pay for it.
This could turn out very well, if everyone plays their cards right, especially as the council doesn’t have the funds to build a new stadium itself.
Councillor John Watson told the Herald he was worried the bid involved “a publicly owned asset essentially being privatised”. Fair question.
Councillor Maurice Williamson said he wants to know how much money the council will get out of it.
My suggestion: the consortium should build it and gift it to the city. How fantastic would that be?
I’m aware that Ali Williams, for one, is possibly not a very sentimental bloke. His plan includes evicting the Ponsonby Rugby Club, which has been based at the park for generations but whose lease expires in 2027. The Ponies, as they’re known, have produced more All Blacks than any other club. Williams was one of them.
Eviction seems a bit rough, especially as the Ponies were gracious enough not to complain when Auckland FC adopted their blue and black colours as their own.
Where will the Ponies go? They use Cox’s Bay for some games, but it’s not nearly big enough for the club’s entire needs. Maybe Williams could be asked to solve that problem too.
I used to help coach a Ponies kids’ team and for me one of the great delights was turning up at Cox’s Bay on Saturday mornings to find the great Sir Bryan Williams, who lives by the park, setting out the corner flags.
We had a tall, shy kid in that team and I would like to say I helped him with his lineout skills, although in truth I’m sure I made no difference at all. It was Patrick Tuipulotu.
By the way, now AFC have the Ponies’ colours, will they take a further lead from the rugby club and adopt a similar nickname? Please don’t let it be Stallions.
The Mowbray-Williamses' plan for the site is one of three the council will consider. The other two, neither as yet released publicly, come from the Ponies themselves and from former Big Day Out entrepreneur Campbell Smith.
The council expects to declare a preference in May, and then we’ll all have our say. Beats me why they do these things that way round. Why not put all three up for public debate and then decide?
Will Mayor Brown use his principles of good government to achieve a good outcome for Western Springs and all who play in it, at long, long last?
And a last question, for the Mowbray-Williamses themselves: Do you think you could find room in your budget for a designer? The concept artwork for the stadium looks like it was generated by an AI program having a very bad day. It’s really ugly.
Want a taxi rank in front of the Civic? Better drop-off and pick-up points outside the town hall? Not sure how to collect someone from the Aotea Centre? Many of the million other people who attend those venues throughout the year are similarly frustrated.
Auckland Transport has come up with a Room to Move plan, which it says will “refine the city centre’s kerbside spaces, adding more pick-up/drop-off zones, loading areas, taxi and rideshare spaces, e-scooter and bicycle parking, and mobility parking”.
And they want to know what the public thinks about it.
Well good.
Daniel Clarke, director of performing arts in the council’s arts precinct, which includes all those venues, is on the team developing this. So is Paula Jones, a writer/director who uses a wheelchair, and Catriona Ferguson from the Auckland Writers Festival.
It’s taken a little bit of time to get to this point, not to mention a lot of letters to the paper, but we’re here now, the complaints have been heard and it’s time for everyone to have their say.
Sometimes, it’s hard to know what to say. An independent hearing commission (IHC), acting on advice from two members of the Waitematā Local Board, has rejected a proposal from the James Kirkpatrick Group (JKG) for an 11-storey timber-framed office building at the western end of Karangahape Rd.
The site is empty and derelict. Next to it, there’s another empty lot, used to park cars. Across the road, there’s a petrol station. Behind the site, there are some undistinguished industrial buildings. It’s ripe for development.
The architects of the proposed building are Fearon Hay, one of the top firms in the country. Their design aims for 6 Star Green Star status, the best-available environmental rating. I know this bit is subjective, but I think it’s pretty lovely to look at.
Several busy bus routes and a cycleway run right past and it’s a five-minute walk to the soon-to-open Karanga-a-Hape train station on the City Rail Link. It’s ideal for density.
The council’s own Unitary Plan recognises the need for density in the city’s main centres and especially along transport corridors like K Rd. The Government has made it very clear this is where the greatest density should occur. K Rd already has several high-rise blocks in the vicinity and almost everyone has assumed more will follow. It’s in line with other changes.
The economy of the K Rd precinct is thriving these days, in an entirely predictable way. The new blocks, the increased bus numbers and the cycleway have all brought more people on to the street: to shop, to eat and drink, to enjoy the entertainments, to hang out.
Density isn’t good if it’s done badly. But this isn’t some blankly anonymous design. Aesthetically, it aims very high. The building was going to be a textbook case of density done well. Why did they say no?
“The principal concern for the board is the scale of the development,” said the commissioners, Janine Bell, Bridget Gilbert and Heike Lutz.
You could argue they’re right, because at 11 storeys maybe the building wasn’t going to be big enough. Nearby tower blocks rise over 20 storeys. But that is not what they meant.
You could also argue that within 20 years there will probably be buildings that size all along upper Great North Rd and K Rd. Although, presumably, not if the commissioners can help it.
JKG did everything right. They got a report from Isthmus, the reputable firm behind the regenerated Quay St and many of Auckland’s other successful urban-design projects. Isthmus loved it. They didn’t even find anything to quibble about, in the normal way of these things.
JKG also got a heritage impact statement, three reviews by urban design panels and other reports. They were all enthusiastic.
“The proposal provides a positive response to intensification and the urban form of the city centre,” said one report. “The design is of high quality and will assist in ensuring the city centre is an attractive place to work and visit ...
“Although the proposal will introduce a new building and a change to views in the area, the building is appropriate in this location. Auckland’s planned urban form is predicated on change, but in a developing city there will always be buildings that are larger than the others.”
The two local board members who opposed the plan at the hearing were Allan Matson and Alexandra Bonham.
Matson is a heritage campaigner who stood on the Communities and Residents ticket in the last election. C&R is National Party-aligned. Bonham is close to the Green Party.
This is the point at which it’s worth mentioning that transposing parliamentary politics on to councils can be a fraught business.
National’s Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop called this decision “insanity”. He made it clear the intransigence of opponents – like Matson – has confirmed his view the Resource Management Act needs very permissive reform.
And just this week Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick spoke in Auckland about the vital importance of urban density in places like the K Rd precinct.
If Bonham and Matson can hear an eerie whistling sound right now, it’s senior members of their respective parties telling them they’re on their own, because they got this one terribly wrong.
What’s more, although they “represented” the local board at the hearing, it has never debated the JKG plan.
I asked Bonham about this. She said there had not been time for the board to assess the plan and she has delegated authority in line with the local plan. And Matson is the board’s planning lead on “heritage” issues.
Board chairwoman Genevieve Sage confirmed all this to me.
But her own view of the project, she said, was that it “would be a useful addition to Karangahape Rd, provided that adequate provision is made for a servicing and loading zone”.
She said if they are asked for any further feedback, she will make sure the whole board gets to have their say. “We are very keen to add a constructive voice to the development of the Waitematā area,” she said.
But hang on. Could they really not have debated it earlier? The plan has been in the public domain, and much publicised, since June last year.
And why is it a “heritage” area? It’s not because there are important heritage buildings close to the site. It’s because Auckland Council has manipulated heritage zoning to restrict the height of new builds on the fringe of the central city.
That ability will soon be severely curtailed. Probably from May, a sweeping change to the Unitary Plan known as Plan Change 78 will make taller buildings much easier to consent in built-up areas.
JKG says it will appeal the IHC decision. Meanwhile, maybe Mayor Brown could add a couple of items to his principles list. Like: are we making the city better? And: can we triumph over stupid decisions?
Good old Sir Russell Coutts – we always knew he’d come through for us in the end, eh?
It’s time to forget the endless anguish of the four-year cycle and silly-money shenanigans of the America’s Cup. Coutts wants to bring Auckland a thrilling annual yachting contest, every year, and we already know from this year’s event just how spectacularly good that will be.
Without anyone having to stand in a cold shower ripping up $100 bills of public money, which, to adapt the old adage about sailing, is what the America’s Cup is. SailGP at home in Auckland? Make it happen.
The Britomart shopping and office precinct, surrounding the best town square in the central city, celebrated its 20th anniversary last week.
It’s been a remarkable project, converting an unloved and unlovely bus depot and urban wasteland into such a splendid oasis. But the question is: how does Auckland replicate that success elsewhere?
The Midtown area is coming back to life after all the construction disruption, and will need some inspired TLC to make it thrive. That includes the block from the Civic up to Aotea Square, currently abandoned to buses.
It should also include High St, architecturally the best street in Auckland, with boardwalk extensions to the lower end of the footpaths and the very popular Freyberg Square halfway along. But it’s still overrun with cars that drive through for no reason other than to look for parks they will not find.
Britomart is a private venture. It’s succeeded because it’s been curated by creatively inspired people, notably developer Peter Cooper, his chief executive Matthew Cockram, and Jeremy Hansen, who runs community events for them.
The challenge for the council has little to do with the mayor’s 10 principles of good governing.
It’s to have the courage to empower really talented people on the council’s own staff. I’d like to think it’s eminently possible, but I’d also like to see more evidence of it.
Ko au, ko Ngāti Whātua: Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Te Taunga Community Hub is about to open a new exhibition celebrating the identity of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, the tangata whenua of Te Kahu Tōpuni o Tuperiri, the ancestral cloak that covers central Tāmaki.
The exhibition is billed as “an invitation to step into the physical, cultural, and spiritual threads that weave the story of the iwi” and includes rare and never-before publicly exhibited taonga from the collections of both the museum and the iwi.
“As with all exhibitions in Te Taunga Community Hub,” the museum says, “Ko au, ko Ngāti Whātua has been shaped entirely by the community it represents, from the selection of taonga and imagery to the design and interpretation.” Entry is free. From March 24.
Te Ahurei Toi o Tamaki Auckland Arts Festival: It’s the last weekend and there’s still a lot to catch, including Smashed, the burlesque revue in the Spiegeltent; A Streetcar Named Desire done as ballet; Ahi Karunaharan’s acclaimed play a mixtape for maladies, which charts a family saga in Sri Lanka and Aotearoa through the medium of popular songs; the dance show This is Not a Retrospective from Black Grace; Animal, a family-friendly circus that’s “a little bit of country, a whole lot of crazy”; and SIX the Musical, because why wouldn’t you turn the torrid lives and deaths of Henry VIII’s wives into song and dance? Ends March 23.
To sign up to Simon Wilson’s weekly newsletter click here, select Love this City and save your preferences. For a step-by-step guide, click here.
New World Carterton posted on Facebook that the store is closed until further notice.