Spot the Difference

In this weeks 'News Worthy', National MP Richard Worth has two articles - one after the other. The first supports more council regulation for building apartments. The next argues that there is too much council regulation when trying to build in Auckland. (I've copied the offending articles below and edited for length.) Now is it just me, but doesn't that seem a little inconsistent?

Excerpt from 'News Worthy' - 20 Jan 06.

Minimum apartment floor areas
One of the commitments which I have made as Member of Parliament is to seek the setting of minimum standards for apartments following the disastrous legacy of inner city developers in Auckland.

Some progress has been made but it is slow. The Auckland City Council has held three workshops and has recommended standards which include:

• Minimum apartment floor areas


• Minimum corridor width


• Minimum clear glazing area of an exterior wall for bedrooms and living/dining rooms.


• Provision for through natural ventilation, including for air-conditioned apartments.

In the interim the Council is seeking to control building development by incorporating these standards in to the Central Area Plan. That raises an interesting and tricky issue of the interface of the Resource Management Act and the Building Code.

Alice in Wonderland
Owen McShane has much to say of value on the limitations of the Resource Management Act. One of his most dramatic examples of gross short comings in the way the legislation works is the situation in the rural zone at Matakana and Point Wells, Omaha Flats.Those seeking a resource consent have to consider the following planning documents:

• Plan One. The Transitional Operative District Plan, including Operative Plan Change 62 – Financial Contributions.


• Plan Two. The Operative Plan Change 55, for the rules relating to their rural zone.


• Plan Three. The Proposed Plan 2000 (for the whole District), which has just completed hearings, but is not yet operative.


• Plan Four: The operative National Coastal Policy Statement, if they are near the coast


• Plan Five: The ARC’s operative Auckland Regional Policy Statement, which includes the Regional Growth Strategy.


• Plan Six: The ARC’s operative Auckland Regional Plan: Coastal.


• Plan Seven: The ARC’s Proposed Air, Land and Water Plan.


• Plan Eight: The ARC’s Proposed Policy Change 6 which directs and controls land use over the whole region.


• Plan Nine: The ARC Proposed Variation 22, which directs Rodney District to make the changes to its Proposed Plan 2000 now required by Proposed Policy Change 6.


• Plan Ten: The operative Auckland Regional Plan: Sediment Control, if they are implementing major earthworks etc.


• Plan Eleven: The operative Auckland Regional Plan: Farm Dairy Discharges (only if they are changing their dairy farm activities.)


• Plan Twelve: The proposed Policy Change 8 – Landscape and Volcanic Cones, insofar as it impacts on the whole coastline of the these two areas.


• Plan Thirteen: The ARC proposed Policy Change 10 – Natural Hazards, especially potential flooding and tsunami, near their coastlines.