North Shore Times (New Zealand)
A daycare too many, for some
The approval of resource consent for a daycare, two doors down from an existing one, has left residents upset.
Consent was granted for Alamar Trust to build a 30-child daycare on Gatman St, Birkenhead, but the company already has a daycare two doors down.
The driveway for Next Generation Childcare runs between two houses and tucks in behind another, leaving one resident with childcare activities on three sides.
‘‘One daycare is enough,’’ the resident, who did not want to be named, said. ‘‘To have two, means the house is surrounded by childcare activities. It’s affecting the character of the street and we can’t enjoy our property.’’
Another resident who lives opposite the site also submitted against the proposal.
‘‘Our whole reason for opposing it isn’t because we don’t like children. But we’ve got a 30-child kindy over the road,’’ he said.
‘‘We haven’t complained about the other because we’re happy for there to be one in the area.’’
The existing daycare is for children over 2 years, and he said he was originally notified the applicant wanted to extend the existing daycare but that was disallowed. He said the combined noise from two centres would be an issue and at the hearing it was determined noise from each daycare should be assessed independently not cumulatively.
He acknowledged there was a demand for daycares.
The resident between the daycares said she felt as if Auckland Council hadn’t considered the people affected by the consent.
‘‘None of the applicants, council staff ... I bet none would want to be in my position, being surrounded by childcare activities,’’ she said. ‘‘In my view, council have been unreasonable in approving the daycare … They’ve not thought about the human element, how it affects people, how it affects the residential character.’’
Consent was approved for a 30-child, three-staff centre.The decision stated the effects of the proposal would be avoided, remedied or mitigated by conditions including not having any physical access between the two daycares, noise controls, car parking, and more.
The application was publicly notified on March 2, 2017 and the hearing took place on June 7. The applicant did not respond to three requests for comment.