Fast-track panel hears of PM’s objection in rejecting Botany apartment block

Campaigning for election, Christopher Luxon argued against “plonking down” a 54-unit block on a ridge between suburban Howick and Cockle Bay.
It would be “a dangerous precedent”, not just for his Botany electorate but for all Auckland.
Now, a fast-track consenting panel has turned down the developer’s application to build the Quarterdeck apartment block – just the sixth time any project, anywhere, has been refused fast track approval.
Lawyers for the developer, Clearwater Construction, pointed to Chief Justice Wild’s famous judgment in Fitzgerald v Muldoon, that ministers could not direct change by public edict; they needed the backing of the law.
The lawyers argued: “Decision makers need to follow the law as Parliament has enacted and not statements from Ministers (or even the Prime Minister) about what might happen as a result of a potential future law change.”
The Quarterdeck application had been opposed by Christopher Luxon and other local residents, who worried it would impede their views, overloads the stormwaters and cause traffic snarl-ups.
Standing in front of the abandoned mechanic’s workshop that occupies one corner of the 5,700 square metre site, he posted a video in 2020: “I’m on the site of Steward Motors,” he said. “I remember this because as a kid, right across the road is Cockle Bay Primary and across the road is my old school Howick College. I went to both those schools, I remember this place really well.
“There are other parts of Auckland that make sense for us to put higher density dwellings into. This is an area that should always stay a single dwelling zone. We’ve got to think more strategically about infrastructure. We can’t just plonk multi-unit dwellings in place and not have the supporting infrastructure.”
But Labour’s environment minister, David Parker, referred it to an expert consenting panel last year, for consideration for fast-tracked approval.
Then the Government changed – and despite new ministers’ enthusiasm for fixing the housing crisis and fast-tracking projects, that didn’t extend to mandatory intensification in certain parts of New Zealand’s biggest cities.
The stoush over perceived ministerial intervention came after Housing Minister Chris Bishop wrote to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown in March, signalling the council would no longer be required to implement mandatory medium-density residential standards. Auckland Council lawyers submitted the letter to the consent hearing.
The panel chair, Matthew Casey KC, convened a case management conference with the council and all interested submitters to discuss what course to take in light of the minister’s letter, and to clarify with the minister whether it constituted a direction to the council.
In the panel’s decision this week, it quoted Bishop’s letter and subsequent press statements that medium-density housing intensification was not fit for purpose in all communities: “It is clear that communities want more flexibility and discretion over where housing growth takes place. National will legislate to give councils more choice.”
This week, Bishop told Newsroom his letter was not intended to signal the medium-density mandate could be ignored prior to it being repealed, in decisions like the Quarterdeck resource consent.
“No,” he replied. “The letter was only in relation to Auckland Council’s plan change process and was not written to apply to other decisions.”
Bishop said he and his advisors hadn’t had any discussions with the Prime Minister or his staff about the Quarterdeck consent decision.