Long and Only One Actual Decision Made
If I was to give a one line summary of Day One of the Unitary Plan proceedings it would be this:
Elect Councillors who know how to give 30 second speeches. Anything beyond that is always irrelevant dribble stuck on a Merry-Go-Round with the Emergency Stop Button busted.
Okay a bit more than a single line but the sums up yesterday after only one major resolution (out of a few pages worth (which I will stick up in a moment)) was passed and we have only two days left.
I will not be present at Day Two of the Unitary Plan proceedings today. I will be on TotaRim business in Manukau today advancing the Manukau Super Metropolitan Centre concept with potential stakeholders. Tomorrow I might be back at Town Hall depending on today’s outcomes both in Manukau and at Town Hall. However, if Councillors are that damned slow in getting through the recommendations I might consider Friday a write off entirely and go do something else.
So what did we get out of Day One? Well two three things.
Starting with Councillor Brewer’s shameless motion to effectively kill off the three day proceedings and stall it until November 30. This was his motion which he tried to get through but failed on a vote of 6-15 (and thankfully):
My amendment by 15 votes to 6:
Brewer/Fletcher: “That the Auckland Plan Committee delays its decision until November to approve the notification of an amended draft of the Auckland Unitary Plan to allow the local body elections to conclude, and to give the newly publicly mandated second term council the opportunity to review and seek advice, and to allow the wider community and stakeholders more time and input on the latest revised changes and significant new information still emerging.”
The 6 that voted for this were: Brewer, Fletcher, Lee, Stewart, Quax and one other (but can’t be seriously bothered digging that up).
Once that shameless motion was defeated soundly the Committee moved onto Residential provisions in the Unitary Plan – which we are still on as I write this very post today.
Basically what the Councillors are trying to do is get through all these recommendations (embedded below) so that the Unitary Plan can be decided on September Five whether to be notified or not.
These are the recommendations the Auckland Plan Committee are trying to get through:
The only recommendations that passed yesterday were the following:
- A
- B
- L – which was amended to allow 10% “affordable” housing in a Greenfield development area – not the original 7%. It is to note that the amendment only passed on a vote of 11-9
For more “fast” updates check my Taking Auckland Facebook page or @BenRoss_AKL Twitter link. There is really no point doing a 5000 word post on giving the breakdown of yesterday’s proceedings believe me. Not unless you want to share my utter pain of being stuck on a Merry-Go-Round stuck on fast with the emergency button busted…
In saying this with Day Two, I will be keeping tabs on the live video feed and will Tweet happenings as they happen – if they happen today. The live feed can be found here http://www.allaboutauckland.com/
Oh one thing seeming we are dealing with the Residential provisions in the Unitary Plan. I have a copy of all of Councillor Ann Hartley’s amendments to these residential provisions in the Unitary Plan. Councillor Hartly seems to have done a total U-Turn on her stances – owing most likely to being “influenced” by lobby groups possibly like Auckland 2040. I will get the amendments up today on Scribd for your viewing ASAP.
More Unitary Plan Updates and documents will be posted later today and tomorrow. However Manukau business must be attended to.
TALKING AUCKLAND
Talking Auckland: Blog of TotaRim Consultancy Limited
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Bringing Well Managed Progress to Auckland and The Unitary Plan
Auckland: 2013 – YOUR CITY, YOUR CALL