Auckland is not the only one with planning battles on its hands

 

 

It seems Sydney is going through the same NIMBY problems Auckland is going through when an authority introduces a broad-sweeping planning regime that is markedly different from the status-quo. While Auckland is going through the motions of the Unitary Plan, Sydney is going through the motions of “Urban Activation Precincts” of which some oh-to-familiar situations arising.

From the SMH:

Housing: public interest tuned out in city-surburb battle

 

Date January 11, 2014

Chris Johnson

 

The recent boom in apartment approvals in Sydney has set off a new wave of NIMBY – not in my backyard – reaction against what many community groups see as an attack on suburban living.

The reaction has been so strong that the NSW government’s proposed planning reforms are mortally wounded and several proposed Urban Activation Precincts are on hold. A lifestyle battle is emerging between the champions of detached housing in suburbia and the urban dwellers living in apartments.

Sydney is going through a cultural change with strong support for apartment living from Gen X and Gen Y, as well as baby boomers looking to downsize. The statistics demonstrate the swing that is occurring. The 2011 census measured Sydney’s apartments as accounting for 25.8 per cent of all householders, and each month apartment approvals seem to outnumber house approvals. The latest update on the Department of Planning’s website indicates that 75 per cent of Sydney’s housing approvals were for apartments in September last year. It is clear that an increasing number of people are preferring an urban lifestyle close to amenities and work. It is likely that Sydney will be half houses and half apartments in 20 years.

The ideals of the garden city movement that led to suburbia as a part country, part city lifestyle are seen by many as a core Australian value. The film The Castle lauded the importance of owning your own detached house with its surrounding gardens. In the upper north shore, an action group titled Save Our Suburbs (SOS) led an attack on the evils of the high-rise apartment block. From this group has emerged the Better Planning Network, which organised up to 500 community action groups to fight the planning reforms proposed by the NSW government.

Those against the much-needed planning reforms focused on a component called ”Code Assessable” and generated a fear campaign that this would lead to high-rise apartments being built in suburban backyards without any notification. Radio commentators fuelled the fear, the Greens called the reforms pro-developer and anti-community, but behind all the blustering was the concern that Sydney was at a tipping point in a lifestyle change from being a suburban city to becoming an urban city.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/housing-public-interest-tuned-out-in-citysurburb-battle-20140110-30lz3.html#ixzz2qJ8seUPv

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Now where have we seen this kind of situation before in Sydney? Why it looks like Auckland including some rather similar NIMBY brigades. Although the political make up in Sydney is different to Auckland with the happenings in Sydney being led by the centre-right New South Wales State Government with the Greens (and “community groups”) opposing. Here in Auckland we have a centre-left Council led by a centre-left well Deputy Mayor as Penny Hulse is firmly in the driver’s seat with the Unitary Plan rather than Mayor Len Brown driving the Unitary Plan with “support” by the centre-right Central Government for most parts.

 

Again from the SMH:

So Sydney has a dilemma. The O’Farrell government has said it will hand planning power back to the community. The action groups that claim to represent the community are against apartment living, but a growing number of people want to live in apartments. Further, with the price of detached houses at record highs, many can afford only apartments. In Sydney, the median house price is more than $200,000 higher than the median apartment price, figures from Australian Property Monitors show.

Strong political leadership is needed during this time of transition, but the state government has been lobbied by special interest groups. It has watered down planning reforms and put several urban development proposals on hold.

The real spirit of Sydney is about diversity. It is about welcoming people from all over the world. It is about balancing suburban living with urban living. With the growth figures predicted for Sydney getting higher, we will need to support new housing on the city’s fringe as well as urban infill. The infill housing will create tensions with existing communities but if located close to transport nodes and town centres will help manage congestion across the metropolitan area. What is most interesting about the boom in apartments is that this is driven by consumer preferences. It is the people who want to live this way.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/housing-public-interest-tuned-out-in-citysurburb-battle-20140110-30lz3.html#ixzz2qJCCKa5D

 

Two situations revealing themselves from the above – both which again Auckland is going through:

1. Political Leadership needed and original plans being watered down – just like the Unitary Plan before it went for notification
2. The natural drift towards more intensified development by the youth and their parents – just like Auckland. The freer market in Sydney again like Auckland is demonstrating this preference towards consumers having more choice across the City. Whether that be your 510m2 piece of land with the stand alone house (like me) in Papakura, an apartment in the CBD or inner suburbs (as my sister-in-law is looking at), an apartment in a Metropolitan Centre such as Manukau, or a unit as part of a complex found in the Mixed Housing Urban zones you should be free to choose and not have the NIMBY’s dictate to you owing to their groundless fears

 

As for political leadership and the apparent cock-up the NSW State Government seems to have committed, I wonder if we “loan” a team of Unitary Plan people (both in and outside the Council) led by our Deputy Mayor to get Sydney back on track. Only problem is that I highly doubt Penny Hulse would be “available” (let alone the City letting go of her) for most of 2014 with the high work load approaching the Auckland Development Committee as we hit the City Building Phase (I’ve noticed applications going out today for people to assist with Area Plans). By the looks of the next article I will be posting on (Planning for all, not the loudest few) it does seem though Sydney needs help.

 

At least we are not the only ones going through planning pains. Our Australian cousins have walked into a mess – similar as we did initially and like us it will take a long time to get back onto the straight and narrow. However, if the more logical Sydney-siders like their Auckland cousins can show their determination and resolve against the NIMBY’s through the planning motions, Sydney like Auckland can see its way through and advance a 21st Century City. You just have to grit your teeth and be prepared for lots of propaganda, debunking and going around in circles a few hundred times prior.