House haulers fighting demolition controls

Demolition controls on thousands of early homes in traditional working class suburbs such as Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Mt Eden are being challenged in court by the Heavy Haulage Association.

The association is unhappy about blanket controls in the suburbs after being part of an agreement brokered by Auckland City Mayor John Banks for a more focused approach in many of the city's leafy suburbs.

It wants a return to the days of people being able to remove or demolish old homes without obtaining a resource consent or notifying neighbours.

Mr Banks, who is making protection of architectural heritage part of his bid to be mayor of the Super City, said yesterday the Residential 1 working class suburbs were critical to the character of the city. "The council will be vigorously defending its position in the Environment Court to protect the city's character and heritage," he said.

Barrister Stuart Ryan said the association was not seeking to challenge all heritage controls, but believed the council's blanket approach was not sufficiently focused.

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Posted: 31 Jul 2009

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