Character Coalition

About

The Character Coalition is an umbrella group representing heritage, historical and special interest groups and residents associations who care deeply about their city.

Story

We have joined together out of a sense of frustration that the community is not being listened to. We have watched with despair as precious buildings and areas have been destroyed to make way for, often inappropriate, new developments.

We have felt shut out of the decision-making process that determines development in our local environments, a process that seems designed to disempower ordinary citizens.

We agree that the best outcome is a clear set of rules in the Unitary Plan and to that end we met with Mayor Len Brown to ask for regional stakeholder status and a significant, on-going role in the development of the plan.

The Mayor has agreed to our request. The first step in the process was a workshop for members of the Coalition, facilitated by Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse and attended by Council officers and other Councillors. At this meeting it was decided that the Coalition would continue to have input during the next six months.

We would like as many organisations as possible to be represented at these meeting so that the voices of all Aucklanders can be heard. We believe that a wide representation from all areas of Auckland will give us the best chance of having what we want included in the plan and the more sway we will have now and in the future.

The Coalition has no formal structure of its own. All member groups retain their own structures and purposes and these are not affected by membership of the Coalition. There is no commitment to belonging and a group can withdraw at any time. The purpose is at this stage is focused on the Unitary Plan and ensuring proper protection of character and heritage. A broad view of character and heritage is taken by the Coalition and it encompasses the physical environment as well as built heritage.

The Super City Unitary Plan presents us with a once in a lifetime chance to get the treatment of heritage and character right. The Auckland Plan’s objectives include empowering Aucklanders to have stewardship of heritage, transparent mechanisms around it, and a legacy of heritage to hand on to future generations.

But without a step change in the approach, the combination of upzoning, intensification, seismic upgrade and the patterns of the past will see major loss of our finite heritage and character stock over time.

If we don’t do something different, we won’t achieve different outcomes, heritage will continue to be a battleground and we will not achieve the outcome that we all want which is a vibrant, go-ahead, liveable city that values its past and makes it part of the future.