Berry Simons hosts webinar for planners

Berry Simons recently hosted a webinar to assist planners understand and navigate the planning process following the recent High Court decision Wallace v Auckland Council [2021] NZHC 3095 - widely known as the “Ventnor Road” decision - which creates new implications for future proposals of planners and developers wanting to subdivide sites, particularly in the suburban areas of Auckland.

In essence, the effect of the decision was that when undertaking the assessment of the building intensity of a proposed activity on neighbourhood character and amenity, the density of buildings and the effects of activities in those buildings, including the number of residents in the buildings, must be considered.

The High Court decision has been appealed to the Court of Appeal and Berry Simons is acting on that appeal.

Nearly 40 planners from small and middle-sized planning consultancies attended the webinar at which Berry Simons personnel discussed the decision and its implications, and identified strategic responses planners and developers can make in light of the High Court’s ruling.

“We found the webinar very helpful and were pleased to see that we are not the only planners struggling to come to grips with the impacts of this decision”, said Haden Mills of Code Planning, “It is great to get some training that is not biased towards writing a conservative council practice note. The discussion and advice gave us a tool kit to structure our applications in a more favourable way and also outlined where we needed to push back on matters such as permitted baseline. Let’s hope that we gain some further clarity from the Court of Appeal.”