Where is Auckland going?

The more I study the Auckland Council plans for the city, the more worried I get. While the Council claims that they will give us the most liveable city in the world, the evidence points to it being a massively expensive exercise, a risky experiment in social engineering and it will make Auckland unaffordable for many people. Gordon McLaughlin once said that the outstanding characteristic of a Labour politician is his absolute conviction that he knows what is best for everyone else. The same can be said of the Council. Instead of judging people by their actionswhich would have shown that they like suburbs and personal transportthey have focused on the views of the few who responded. The policy of trying to concentrate much of the population and employment of Auckland in the central city flies in the face of the number one lesson from Christchurchdo not put all your high-value assets in one place! Auckland has a risk of volcanic eruptions and some risk of a massive earthquake. Surely the logical solution is a less vulnerable city with a number of major hubs and good transport links between them? If the hubs include a wide range of industry and commerce, many people would be living closer to their place of work. Such a city would be cheaper to live in, less risky and much more people friendly. The Councils determination to restrict urban limits has pushed up the cost of land and this and all the other charges imposed on new developments have driven the cost of housing to unaffordable levels for the ordinary person. Having deliberately created the problem, the Council now has the cheek to demand that the government subsidises housing to make it affordable! Their dream of forcing people to live in high density suburbs and high rise apartments is a risky and expensive experiment in social engineering. Experience overseas shows that low cost high density and high rise buildings are breed antisocial behaviour. Home ownership does the reverse. Kiwis are known for their enterprising can do" attitudean attitude spawned by children spending time in their back yard in free play, climbing trees and making and fixing things in the workshop. If they are forced to live in apartments with occasional visits to the park where they will not be able to test the limits and parental supervision is essential, they and the country will lose. Contrary to what the Council believes, suburbs are safe, green, biodiverse, socially and environmentally friendly areas where people want to live and bring up their families. On transport, the Council seems to be allergic to motorcars and has blind faith that trains a solution devised when horses were the only form of transportare still the best solution for the modern world. All this in spite of the fact that the commuter trains to Hamilton and Helensville have been abandoned as uneconomic and the line to Onehunga carries a fraction of the predicted number of passengers. Per passenger, cars are as fuel efficient as trains, usually quicker and far more convenient. All over the world people value personal transport very highly. Motor cars are not going to go away. In the modern world it is virtually impossible to live without a motorcar for shopping, for transporting the childrenand all the clobber that goes with themto school and sports and to do a host of other things that add to our quality of life. The Council haven't learned that cars are getting more and more energy-efficient and they seem to be

unaware of progress made in automatically guided cars. Quite soon, we will be driving along motorways in wirelessly linked car trains" that could double traffic densities and, at the same time, reduce the number of accidents. That will be real progress! When I visit the poorer cities in the world with populations much larger than Auckland, I find that private minibuses provide affordable and flexible public transport. With modern technology, Auckland could have GPS monitored taxis, minibuses and buses controlled by a central computer and summoned by text message. They would take you to where you want to goor connect with another vehicle that did. For a fraction of the money being squandered on trains, the Council could fund a pilot project based on optimal routing for the airport shuttles. New Zealand has a high level of expertise in software and hardware and the project could end up with New Zealand leading the world and generating a huge export business. During the 20th Century, the world learned from the communist countries that rigid centrally-planned solutions lead to disasters. Auckland Councillors need to realise that the people of this wonderful city can and will make their own choices.They will decide where to live and work, and how they want to get there, as new technologies and lifestyles constantly evolve. The Councillors job is to help it happen, not to impose rigid, expensive and impractical plans. A low cost, pleasant, energy efficient, environmentally friendly future for Auckland is achievable and far better than the Council's dreama crowded, family unfriendly, unaffordable city. Bryan Leyland
Consulting Engineer specializing in hydro power and electricity generation