Goff slams move to hire lawyers

Auckland bureaucrats have been instructed by Mayor Phil Goff to sit down and sort out their differences over a development instead of taking the matter to court with expensive lawyers.

Panuku Development Auckland lodged an appeal in the Environment Court against Auckland Council after it was refused planning permission for an apartment and commercial development on Dominion Rd.

The council-controlled organisation has hired Russell McVeagh partner Daniel Minhinnick and senior associate Simon Pilkinton.

If the matter goes to court, the council is likely to hire its own outside lawyers.

Panuku spat the dummy after the council opposed its plans for 102 apartments and nine shops on the corner of Dominion Rd and Valley Rd, 35 of the 42 submissions opposed the plans, and independent planning commissioners refused planning permission.

Last night, Goff had harsh words for Panuku and council bureaucrats, saying if they had resolved their differences early on the resource consent for the development may have gone through.

The decision by planning commissioners to refuse Panuku’s plans was welcomed by heritage groups, but criticised by Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford.

He cited the decision as one reason for the Government overriding Auckland Council and scrapping the Unitary Plan in specified parts of Auckland.