Three Kings land swap and apartment towers not needed to achieve housing increase

Preamble – Council muzzles Local Board

Community groups opposing a large Fletcher/Auckland Council residential development on the old Three Kings Quarry and neighbouring reserves have accused council of muzzling the Local Board over an alternative plan which the groups say provide a better future outcome.

Three Kings Community Action spokesperson Greg McKeown claims the Puketapapa Local Board was prevented by “city hall powers” from releasing new details of the alternative plan under the name of the board.

Instead Michael Wood, a member of the board, released the information under his political organisation, Roskill Community Voice.

Mr McKeown would not elaborate on his claims today but advised media to contact the council and the board for an explanation.

Three Kings land swap and apartment towers not needed

After putting up with months of frustration about plans for the future of the old Three Kings quarry and neighbouring reserves, local residents have been buoyed by an interim report by urban design and landscape architecture expert Richard Reid on the planned development of Three Kings.

Commissioned by the Puketapapa Local Board, and released to media yesterday by Michael Wood the leader of the Roskill Community Voice political group, the report outlines “better” options for Three Kings, including the Fletcher-owned 15 hectare site.

The report has been released following an urgent decision of the Puketapapa Local Board (signed by Julie Fairey and Harry Doig, Chair and Deputy Chair respectively) and provides a table which compares Fletcher’s proposal with an alternative provided by Mr Reid.

Key points from the table and associated diagrams include:

• Less land being used for roads and more for parks and reserves

• 3, 4 and 5-storey buildings rather than apartment towers up to 10 storeys on the quarry face

• The potential for more houses on Fletcher’s own land

• Continuous cycleways and walkways and better connections without the elevators proposed by Fletcher

• More open space around Te Tātua a Riukiuta (the remaining maunga)

“The Local Board has done a good job developing the Three Kings Plan, and this interim report shows that Mr Reid’s plan better satisfies a broad range of objectives,” says Greg McKeown, spokesperson for Three Kings Community Action.

“These objectives include building connections across previously quarried sites, developing more open space around Te Tātua a Riukiuta, building connections to the town centre, and building more houses on Fletcher, Housing New Zealand and surrounding land.

“What it shows is that the Council could achieve a better result without swapping away existing reserve land,” says McKeown. “Council should reconsider its position with respect to the land swap. Overall it’s a poor deal for both today’s ratepayers and future generations who will live in Three Kings.”

He also says Mr Reid’s plan is “leagues ahead” of the Fletcher plan in terms of the environment, community and design outcomes sought in the Three Kings Plan, and that landing on final housing numbers will depend on transport and social infrastructure capacity in the area.

ENDS

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