Threat to views of Auckland's volcanic cones

Views of volcanic cones including One Tree Hill could be threatened. Picture / Richard Robinson

A strategy that has successfully protected the city's volcanic cones for 30 years is under threat, says the Auckland Volcanic Cones Society.

The society says 26 viewshafts - the sightlines from points around Auckland to the volcanoes - have been dropped from a revised list that could be written into Auckland Regional Council's regional policy statement.

The statement is a blueprint for Auckland's development in coming decades and includes environmental protections.

The society's submission on the proposed new list says viewshafts are "not up for grabs every 30 years".

"Why are they being dropped and what is the council trying to achieve?" said spokesman Richard Reid.

If suburbs earmarked by the city's local councils were getting in the way, and that was the reason for the changes, then it should be spelt out.

"Development should be controlled with regard to volcanoes. The volcanoes should not come second to development."

Of the 34 cones in the Auckland region, 10 have been destroyed, 17 are protected and the rest heavily modified, says the ARC.

Views of the cones were protected in the 1970s when housing and industry threatened to swallow them. It is not clear from criteria used to draw up the new list why some views have been discarded because the reasons are lumped into a single category.

For instance, if marked "3e", a view has been deemed to be "lost or diminished as a result of development or tree growth" but doesn't specify which it is.

Society member Greg Smith said tree growth was not a reason to drop volcanic views and some views on the discarded list were the same as they were 30 years ago.

He also questioned the worth of the 40 new viewshafts on the list.

"Most of them relate to Browns Island and Rangitoto, but it's not as if someone is going to start building on Bean Rock," he said.

"I looked at the amended and deleted ones and tried to work out why they were dropped and, frankly, I couldn't."

ARC policy analyst James Fuller said this first round of consultation would be followed by a call for more submissions and then a hearing would be held on the new viewshaft list. A hearing was not likely before next year.

The original list had been revised because it was drawn up 30 years ago and because it was the work of just one planner.

ARC strategy and planning chairman Paul Walbran said he could not comment on the society's concerns because he would likely be on the hearings committee.

"What I would say is the council has notified some recommendations from staff and it goes through a public process for people to say what's right and what's wrong."

The plan

* 28 viewshafts are kept intact.

* 26 are to be dropped.

* 13 existing views will be amended.

* 40 new viewshafts will be added.

* 16 new views were considered but rejected.