In what seems like an unlikely source of inspiration, a group of Howick singers have created a folk protest song about Auckland local body planning rules. Hayden Donnell steps in to assess a musical work that somehow combines his two greatest passions. The history of protest music is littered with songs that have seared themselves … Read more
Auckland Council has nitpicked its way into rejecting two high-density apartment developments on public transport routes near the CBD. Hayden Donnell asks whether council’s consents department really believes in the vision of the Unitary Plan. The Unitary Plan was supposed to fix things. When it passed in 2016, huge swathes of Auckland were rezoned for … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government loses another minister within a week, plans to override the Auckland Unitary Plan, and methane in focus for new climate change report. Another minister has stood down from PM Jacinda Ardern’s government, just a week after she had to sack a minister from Cabinet. Customs minister Meka … Read more
The objections of a few wealthy Mt Eden residents have succeeded in killing a much-needed central Auckland housing development. How does this keep happening? Dominion Road has been marked for major transformation with over a billion dollars to be invested in high capacity light rail that will traverse the length of Auckland’s most famous street. … Read more
Think your voice doesn’t count? The chair of Henderson-Massey’s local board begs to differ, calling on all young people to have their say on Auckland Council’s 10-year plan. Calling all young people in Auckland, your city needs you. The long-term future of Auckland depends on what is adopted in the Auckland Council’s 10-year long-term plan. As … Read more
Do the Devonport nimbys have a point? Is it good enough to settle for developments that are merely ‘good enough’? Simon Wilson reports on the retirement village project that has big implications for the whole city. My parents spent their last years at a Ryman Healthcare facility, so I know a little about that company’s … Read more
Here’s a quick and easy and inexpensive way we can all get more excited about Auckland. Change the names of things! No really – Simon Wilson is serious about this. There’s free burgers or something if you can answer all five of these quick questions: What’s the CRL? What’s the LTP? What about the UP? … Read more
This can either read as a huge list of thank you notes to those who joined the fight for Auckland’s soul, or if you’re Richard Burton or Mike Lee, a list of enemy collaborators. The War For Auckland began as a dark kernel of Duncan Greive’s rage. Our Spinoff Net Tsar spent most of 2016 … Read more
Wait, stop the party – the Unitary Plan isn’t actually in the clear yet. Hayden Donnell reports on how a cluster of anti-change campaigners is holding the whole thing up. It was meant to be over. The Unitary Plan was through. After five years of deliberation, the council had concluded that the people who live … Read more
In fits of democratic exhilaration, Gen Zero and the Auckland war bunker celebrate the start of the Auckland local elections, and explain their imperious plans to tell you how to vote. On the day voting papers begin to dribble into the letterboxes of the Super City, Spinoffistas Toby Manhire and Hayden Donnell are joined by … Read more
Auckland’s housing market is now ministerially sanctioned as ‘out of control’. Hayden Donnell spoke to Chris Minty from Saba about whether apartments are the answer. Auckland’s house prices just reached $1 million on average. As milestones go, it’s like your first catastrophic break-up, or turning 40: no-one feels that good about it. The Government now … Read more
Polling expertise from David Farrar and insightful chats on the mayoral race, the council budget and tensions between the government and Super City. All that and more on the latest War for Auckland podcast. Joining marine commandos Toby Manhire and Hayden Donnell in the fourth War for Auckland podcast are the Auckland Central MP and … Read more
Apartments: long has the debate raged over whether building them would destroy Auckland. Today a special Spinoff pictorial exposé can reveal they’re already here – and loads of them are fantastic. Photography by Rebecca Zephyr Thomas. Story based on research by Catherine Smith. Nothing scares a certain kind of veteran Aucklander more than an apartment. … Read more
The Spinoff/SSI survey reveals the extraordinary impact of housing crisis on residents of New Zealand’s biggest city – and the extent to which Aucklanders blame foreign speculation. There is a housing crisis in Auckland, and it has already bitten hard across the city, according to the latest results from polling conducted by SSI for the Spinoff … Read more
Turns out that the people of Auckland think the blueprint for the future of the city is pretty bloody good. The Unitary Plan, which The Spinoff and others have been banging on about recently, was signed off by Auckland Council with a surprising lack of rowdy opposition last week. It turns out our newly reformed pro-density … Read more
To launch the new Figure.NZ feature on the Spinoff, here’s how New Zealand’s biggest city has increased in population, and how it is projected to increase further. To completely disabuse readers of any impression that the Spinoff is Auckland-centric and fixated on the city’s growth, we’ve chosen for the inaugural installment of our new collaboration … Read more
In the third Earth-shattering installment of The Spinoff’s recently renamed Warcast, we talk to Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse about the Unitary Plan, the disappointing Auckland mayoral candidates, and why she got upset with Mayor Len Brown. She should have been sleeping off a hangover after finally, incredibly, passing the Unitary Plan. Instead, newly minted teetotaller Penny Hulse got up … Read more
In a shocking twist, mild-mannered economist Shamubeel Eaqub has taken a break from calling bullshit to call “good shit” on Auckland Council for passing the Unitary Plan. We thought it would be so hard. Just a few months ago, dozens of people trundled into Auckland Town Hall to yell insults at anyone who’d ever had a positive … Read more
Hallelujah! The Auckland Council has signed off the Unitary Plan, the crucial rulebook for the city’s future. But there remains plenty to fight for, write Hayden Donnell and Toby Manhire The biggest battle of the War for Auckland has been won with barely a teaspoon of blood spilled. In a stunning, gravity defying moment the … Read more
The new rulebook for Auckland development is almost certain to be approved by Council today. It means a final goodbye to the half-gallon, quarter-acre, pavlova paradise, and that’s a good thing, writes Leonie Freeman, former general manager of Housing New Zealand. Make an acronym of Unitary Plan and you get UP. That’s apt: the adoption … Read more
Auckland’s housing issues won’t be solved by short term fixes to deep rooted problems. The government and Council needs to stop the blame game and start working together, says property expert Leonie Freeman. Faced with a crisis, we tend to focus on finding the silver bullet to deal to it. Usually without success, silver bullets … Read more
Achieving a better, fairer Auckland involves much more than just building affordable homes. Urbanist Jenny McArthur explains why liveability should be a key demand of the War for Auckland. As an academic specialising in infrastructure and urban growth, I’ve been delighted by how The Spinoff’s War for Auckland series has helped stimulate the public’s interest … Read more
Hayden Donnell heads out to the leafy suburbs, to see how the new Unitary Plan is being received by those who were so furious about it earlier this year. He found them oddly becalmed. Well, most of them. Last time I saw the residents of Kohimarama, Mission Bay and Glendowie, they were yelling angrily at the … Read more
The Unitary Plan debate is long and complex. Even the councillors sometimes look like they’re wishing for death. But it’s incredibly important. Thankfully, Niko Elsen of Generation Zero has put together a list of the reasons why the plan should pass, in GIF form. The final skirmish in the five-year Unitary Plan battle is underway … Read more
A shock hero has risen up at the Unitary Plan hearings. Hayden Donnell spent the day watching the drama unfold. Today’s Unitary Plan hearing was held in a parallel universe. Up was down. Right was left. A group of elderly people were wearing warpaint – though it turned out they were environmental campaigners, not furious Boomers defending their land. There are … Read more
The Spinoff presents a beautiful way to see what the new rulebook provides for your street, neighbourhood, and the city as a whole The Spinoff’s War for Auckland bunker is shaking with excitement today as we publish a bold and beautiful bunch of accessible, zoomable maps to illustrate the Unitary Plan. Using data sets provided … Read more
A thoroughly snackable summary of the late changes to Auckland’s doorstop rulebook being sought by the wonks at the Auckland Council The dizzying dramedy of the Unitary Plan has spun through one last plot twist before it lands in front of the ladies and gentlemen of the Auckland Council this morning. The council planning wonks have … Read more
In the second scorching installment of the Spinoff’s War For Auckland podcast, we discuss the political responses to the revised Unitary Plan and take bets on whether the Auckland Council will vote it through The adorable old labrador we call the Unitary Plan moves closer to maturity on Wednesday this week as it arrives before … Read more
Amazing political news: a grand coalition was brokered on the Unitary Plan. You just might have missed it because it was signed off in the witching hour on Prime TV. August 3, 2016: the day peace broke out in New Zealand politics. After decades of bickering, sniping, and releasing lists of questions no-one will answer, our … Read more