The Unitary Plan - a moment's thought for those who built it

The Auckland Unitary Plan will be released today. I expect much will be said about it by many. Before that happens, please take a moment consider the work done by the dozens of planners and analysts, over a period of five years, to produce this plan.

The task before them, when they started this process, was enormous: they had to reconcile the planning rules in seven district plans, a regional policy statement, and National Policy Statements. They had to design the Unitary Plan to provide detail for, and give effect to, the growth strategy in the Auckland Plan. And they had to do all of this by carefully following the arcane and complex rules and processes set out in the Resource Management Act.

The final step in the process has been to apply of these new planning rules to neighborhoods and properties across Auckland. That task that was handed to the Independent Hearings Panel, whose recommendations the council will now receive and deliberate on. Not everybody will be happy with the outcomes, and I expect there will be much public debate about the strengths and weaknesses of the plan.

I would like to take this moment, before that debate begins, to show appreciation the council's policy and planning staff for their years of careful and diligent work in the plan. They have performed an extraordinarily difficult and complex task. It should not be a thankless one.

David Hay
for Mayor of Auckland - 2016

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