2013 in Reflection

 

 

December marks the second anniversary of Talking Auckland. As I reflect back on 2013 I come to realise that it has been a very busy year for the blog with some big items coming up dominating the coverage.

Statistics wise the blog continues to track up in readership and reach. May was a big month with a spike in readership as the draft Unitary Plan feedback was at its peak before the May 31 deadline. The largest spike so far was in October although I’ll need to cast an eye back to see what was generating a large amount of traffic at that time. On the flip  side June was a low month but that was expected with everyone including myself pretty much fatigued on the Unitary Plan debate. With the Unitary Plan in formal notification stage traffic will spike again as we head the 28th February cut off date for formal submissions.

 

The reach of Talking Auckland also continues to grow. The blog has received mentions from Main Stream Outlets such as Metro Magazine and Russell Brown’s Media3 when the Unitary Plan debate was in full swing. While no where as large as Transport Blog or Whale Oil (and I never intend it to be), Talking Auckland continues to run commentary and has built close and respected relations with opinion makers (I talk to the guys at TB regularly) and civic authorities (Auckland Council (but ironically not Auckland Transport 😛 ). Yes I do guard those respected relationships quite closely. But being able to either Tweet live from a Committee or being able to turn a release around in a couple of hours means as a social media outlet I can get information out very quickly for your reading pleasure (The “Information from Auckland Council” being one such example and one the Main Stream Media with their wide readership miss often).

However, this does not mean that Council is not up for critiques. At the Auckland Development Committee last month I gave a few constructive critiques on a few projects occurring at the moment. Talking Auckland will continue to critique as well as praise were credit is due. One thing though is Talking Auckland will not go on war paths unlike a particular other blog…

 

And so we come to the two biggie’s of 2013; The Unitary Plan and Manukau.

 

The Unitary Plan

The Unitary Plan when it was released in March (while I was away in Sydney at the time) would cause one of the largest debates the City has ever seen. Talking Auckland quickly came to the fore with balanced and independent commentary as well as advocating back to the Council on a wide range of UP topics. Although was always going to be interesting debunking the NIMBY‘s and sorry Bernard I still remember that Media3 interview with Russell quizzing you over the Unitary Plan coverage.

In the end I became the top tweeter in the Twitter department :p with the Unitary Plan but for the most part people didn’t mind with the MSM often be a tad err slow.

The Unitary Plan debate would flare up again in August as Council scurried and watered down the Unitary Plan in giving more restrictions than what we have now in the legacy District Plans. While that watering down was an utter disappointment the resulting elections effectively gave implicit support of the Unitary Plan and where it should go.

That said compelling and robust cases will have to be made to the Commissioners next year to get the planning rules loosened back up for the operative Unitary Plan. Meaning as an example ALL Mixed Housing Suburban zones are removed from the former Auckland City Council area and flipped to Mixed Housing Urban. At the same time the Metropolitan Centres need better supporting zones such as the MHU and Terraced Housing Apartment Zone flanking the Metro Centres. Having said that I can hear two Local Boards and two particular ward Councillors (actually make that four) already jumping up and down at such a notion. That said I am not particularly fussed it if means South Auckland takes the bulk of growth and investment turning the area into a power house.

Again the Unitary Plan will come back up again as with the teeth gnashing early next year

You can see the Unitary Plan coverage here: https://voakl.net/category/planning/urban-planning-and-design/unitary-plan/

 

The other biggie and coup for Talking Auckland was Manukau.

Since Talking Auckland was founded and my submission to the Auckland Plan was written, I have had a dedicated focus into bringing Southern Auckland’s heart – Manukau out of the 1950’s and into the 21st Century. As Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse once said in a visit to the Manukau City Centre; ‘Manukau needs much love.” Two years of dedication finally paid off last month at the Auckland Development Committee with the ball now rolling in getting Manukau towards a Super Metropolitan Centre.

The results which started the ball finally rolling can be seen in my ‘Developing a 21st Century Auckland Presentation – The Results‘ post. In saying that though I would be kidding myself if this was going to be short in getting everything up to speed. I am fully aware that this is going to be a long game with the Manukau Super Metropolitan Centre but none the less the ball is rolling.

Like the Unitary Plan there will be increased activity around Manukau early next year as site visits and workshops get under way. Manukau Commentary can be found here: https://voakl.net/category/planning/urban-planning-and-design/manukau/

 

 

2014

So what will 2014 look like with Talking Auckland.

2014 will be a very busy year with the following topics all on the plate:

• Manukau as the site visits and workshops get under way
• Unitary Plan as formal submissions close and the hearings before the Commissioners gets under way
• Area Plans start to be developed with the timetable being released in either February or March next year (according to Penny Pirrit)
• The 2015 Long Term Plan (master budget document) is drafted and released for submissions
• The 2015 Integrated Transport Plan is also drafted and released for submissions. No doubt Transport Blog and Generation Zero will be pushing extremely hard to get the Congestion Free Network included into the 2015 ITP and the massive road-fest taken back out

 

2013 – a very busy year with 2014 to be even busier

 

Talking Auckland wishes to thank the readers, commenters, civic leaders, and information feeders (got to get the releases from somewhere) for what has been a successful and busy 2013.

 

I hope to see you around in 2014 as Auckland enters the 21st Century City Building Phase