Housing blocked on city volcano
Bernard Orsman
One of Auckland’s most prized volcanoes has been protected from a proposal to build 575 homes.
The privately owned Crater Hill, on the edge of the Manukau Harbour at Papatoetoe, and the elite soils of Pukaki Peninsula are to remain protected from residential development and future urbanisation after an Environment Court decision.
The court declined an appeal by the Self Family Trust and adjacent landowners against Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan, which zones Crater Hill and Pukaki Peninsula as rural land outside the Rural Urban Boundary.
The trust had proposed up to 300 houses in the eastern part of the site by the Southwestern Motorway and up to 275 houses on the lower slopes of the crater.
Parts of Pukaki Peninsula were favoured by landowners as a Future Urban zone allowing urbanisation over areas of very productive land in the future, said the council.
Geologist and author of Volcanoes of Auckland Bruce Hayward has described Crater Hill as the second best preserved volcano in South Auckland after Mangere Mountain.
Councillor Chris Darby, who chairs the planning committee, said the appeal was a test of the Unitary Plan provisions.
“At the time the Unitary Plan was introduced, we were acutely aware of the need to protect the ‘ green lungs’ of Auckland and ensure that the natural and cultural landscape of Auckland would be safeguarded.
“We’ve been successful in protecting what we consider to be a remarkable part of our unique volcanic landscape,” Darby said.
The Environment Court decision by Judge Jon Jackson and Environment Commissioners Eileen von Dadelszen and James Baines said that taking into account the existing markets available for housing, the court was satisfied its decision would have minimal impact on housing supply and prices.