Just a block or two back . . . you might as well be in Palmerston North.

that room. Three times, though, Goff gave his assurance council would accept the outcome of the consultation process.

It didn’t take long for the meeting to get weird. No one from Panuku was asked to respond to Jackson’s analysis. Are the proposed town square options big enough or not? Is it true about the tower blocks?

David Rankin, the chief operating officer at Panuku, was asked to answer some other questions, but he was gruff, cryptically short and uninformative. He seemed irritated even to be there.

Here’s a tip, Panuku: don’t let Rankin out of his cubicle ever again. He’s a backroom official. You’ve got several inspired designers and planners: let them do the talking.

It wasn’t Panuku’s only mistake. The consultation material is definitely confusing. Online and in printed brochures, the language is loaded with promises of sun, views and amenities, but there’s no clear explanation of what is proposed. You have to take an awful lot on trust.

There are artists’ impressions and even an online 360-degree tour of the project, but they don’t help. The images show buildings and trees that don’t exist, so it’s impossible to recognise the place, get your bearings and know what you’re looking at.

Still, it doesn’t follow Panuku’s plans are wrong. Or that they can’t be improved. In fact, if options 1 or 2 are adopted, the next stage will be to produce a more fully worked-up concept, with consultation, that everyone can understand. That’s an important, generally overlooked, point in this debate.

And the answer to Heart of Takapuna’s critique of the Panuku plans? It’s that yes, they have misrepresented what is proposed. The town square will not be surrounded by walls of nine-storey buildings, because the Unitary Plan requires those buildings to be stepped back, to ensure the public space is open and sunlit. It will also be big enough to accommodate all sorts of activities. The proposed public square is about the same size