Devonport Precincts Appeal

Ryman Healthcare was granted resource consent to build a large retirement village in Ngatargina Bay, Devonport. Consented with 600 beds, 300 car parks and at 6 storeys high, it is by far Devonport’s biggest development.

The Devonport Peninsula Precincts Society (DPPS) is a group of local people who appealed this decision to the Environment Court. We are not opposed to a retirement village being built on this precinct, but we contended that the consented proposal was contrary to the objectives and policies of the Auckland Unitary Plan, and in particular contrary to the policies and assessment criteria of the Devonport Peninsula Precinct Plan. In essence, the development’s bulk and height were out of scale with the surrounding area and its design was not of sufficient quality.

This was the first large-scale decision made under the council's new Unitary Plan, and the consequences are far reaching. It is a crucial case for Auckland as it tests its new Unitary Plan. "Greater intensity," as commissioner Dave Serjeant wrote in his dissenting decision, "does not have to be at the expense of the existing environment or a quality outcome".

On the 7th of June, 2017, following more than five weeks of court assisted mediation, The Environment Court ordered that the appeal was settled. DPPS, and Section 274 Parties to the legal appeal, The New Zealand Institute of Architects Auckland Branch and Urban Auckland, had issued statements advising they were satisfied with the remedies achieved. An early decision under Auckland's new Unitary Plan has been put right.

To cover the costs of legal, design, and planning experts throughout the mediation process, this financial appeal continues.