“Our purpose is to recognise, appreciate, preserve and share Remuera's past and present.”
“Our purpose is to recognise, appreciate, preserve and share Remuera's past and present.”
28-Mar-2018
Remuera Heritage is submitting on Auckland Council's draft Ten Year Plan and also the Auckland Plan and we encourage all members to make their own submissions on both plans. Submissions are due by 8pm on 28 March.
Get a copy of the paper Have Your say form from the Remuera library or go online to akhaveyoursay.co.nz
10 Year Plan Budget / Long Term Plan
There is nothing included for Remuera in the 10 year plan or budget.
1. Community facilities:
a. Remuera needs a community centre to service its diverse community needs with a focus on the town centre and the library. There are only 2 community facilities in Remuera – the Remuera Library and 4 Victoria Avenue which houses the CAB and Plunket. There are no rooms available for hire at the current facility at 4 Victoria Avenue, the future of which is very uncertain.
b. Remuera is a substantial size district with a diverse population of 28,000. It has a large long-established town centre. There is a need to service a large area with a growing diverse community, focused on the town centre
c. Proceeds from any sale of Victoria Avenue should be reinvested in the Remuera community – in a Remuera community centre in the Remuera town centre.
2. Village Green and buildings: It is unclear what is happening to the Village Green area at the back of the shops. The brick buildings were the original Remuera Roads Board office and works depot, and then Remuera’s first fire station. We would like to know about the redevelopment, intensification, any loss of heritage buildings and green space (the Village Green) – the Remuera community needs to be kept informed.
3. Ohinerau/Mt Hobson: Remuera Heritage supports the TÅ«puna Maunga Authority’s proposed management plan and operational plan for Ohinerau Mt Hobson, focusing on upgraded paths and signage, pest control and regular vegetation management and maintenance. Also important for Remuera Heritage is the preservation of the memorials to the Remuera service men and women who served in WW2 – this includes the daffodils on the northern slope.
4. Cultural Heritage: The 10 year plan budget also needs to include increased budget for key Auckland cultural heritage institutions – Auckland Museum, the Auckland Art Gallery, MOTAT and the Sir George Grey Special Collections at Auckland Libraries. They all have urgent need for improved infrastructure to meet visitor needs and protection of collections over the next 10 to 20 years.
In particular, all Auckland Councillors must support Mayor Phil Goff's proposal of the 1 February 2018 to increase the Auckland Art Gallery's funding by $20m over the next ten years as part of the LTP. We request this amount is targeted for the Auckland Art Gallery when the annual Auckland Council distribution is made to Regional Facilities Auckland.
Auckland Plan 2020-2050
Remuera Heritage is submitting on the draft Auckland Plan and we encourage all members to make their own submission. Submissions are due by 8pm on 28 March.
Our main concern is that the draft plan does not have a chapter on historic heritage or arts and culture, including cultural heritage. The previous Auckland Plan’s chapter 4 consists of 14 pages about the importance of the city’s historic heritage and the need to protect it.
Page 8 of this chapter states: “On behalf of the community, the Auckland Council will continue to develop initiatives to ensure innovation, good practice and improved heritage outcomes.” It is important to submit that the chapter on historic heritage be put back into the plan. You can also ask that Focus Area 4 be amended to “Protect Auckland’s significant environments, cultural and historic heritage from further loss” and that Outcome 5 be amended to “Environment, Cultural and Historic Heritage.”
Also ask for a reinstatement of the previous plan’s definition in the glossary of cultural heritage as: “The legacy of tangible heritage resources and intangible attributes that are inherited from past generations. Heritage includes historic heritage, taonga tuku iho (heirlooms), and other forms of heritage such as books, works of art, artefacts, beliefs, traditions, language and knowledge”.
23-Sep-2016
The Character Coalition has lodged an appeal in the High Court asking the Auckland Council to look again at zoning changes under its Unitary Plan in a number of the City's suburbs. The appeal focuses on late changes made without public consultation that could put older character homes at risk for no demonstrable benefit.
Convenor Sally Hughes says "The process trampled on people's rights with a last minute decision to change the zoning in many streets, effectively denying people the chance to have any say in the matter." The Coalition's legal challenge is aimed at restoring residents’ "right to be heard." "The Unitary plan process allows for this appeal and it's extremely important the planners look again at a small number of areas.....once the character homes in these suburbs are gone, they are gone for ever. We only have one chance." "This appeal won't hold up the bulk of the Unitary Plan, and it will have no impact on affordability of Auckland houses. It involves less than 1 percent of our housing stock." says Hughes. The Coalition says the last minute changes have all the hallmarks of someone getting out a marker pen and drawing a thick line around the City's main arterial roads indiscriminately targeting character areas. "People living along and beyond main transport routes in suburbs like Onehunga, Westmere, Glendowie, Grey Lynn, Henderson, Grafton and Blockhouse Bay woke up one morning to find their rights had been completely trampled on, it was undemocratic and unrealistic."
"Some streets that contain important character homes suddenly went from single house only, to zones allowing 3 storey apartment blocks." "In some of the affected streets, like Francis Street in Grey Lynn, houses date back to the early 1900's. Others in Westmere contain noted 1920s bungalows. In Grey Street, Onehunga there are important turn of the century villas that add greatly to the suburb's character. Sticking multi-storey apartment blocks next to them doesn't make sense and will not solve Auckland's housing issues." "We are not against intensification, Auckland needs that; but you get only one chance to do it properly and rushing it could prove to be a big mistake."
The COALITION says the Council may be adopting a population growth rate that is too high, despite being advised against it by Statistics New Zealand. "Statistics NZ its mid-point projections should be used by planners (750,000 more people by 2040) instead the Council went with the figure of one million." "What if immigration slows down over the next 20 years? And we have lost irreplaceable character streets due to a Council blunder?" "There is massive value in our stock of wooden buildings.....they are what gives the city its unique character. Let's not blow it."
14-Jun-2018
Remuera Heritage and Parnell Heritage are having a joint visit to 136 Grafton Road to learn about the history, heritage restoration and recent work done to the building and some of the decisions made on its adaptive reuse. 136 Grafton Road was the Methodist Theological College after it was moved from Dunholme in Remuera. Today it is the Church of Scientology. Robin Byron, Conservation Architect at Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, will be our guide for the evening.
WHEN: Thursday 14th June
2018 at 7pm
WHERE: 136 Grafton Road, Grafton
PARKING: There is onsite parking off
Carlton Gore Road – use the first driveway on the left. There is a
drive beside the chapel to come inside.
RSVP TO events@remueraheritage.org.nz or to the Remuera Library