Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Chris Bishop's housing u-turn is basic common sense

Well, finally Chris Bishop has done the right thing and made the u-turn on the two million new houses he had planned for Auckland.

It’s not altogether a surprise that he did this and announced it this afternoon, because it’s been rumoured for months - for the obvious reason that it’s election year.

Auckland is a key battleground. Aucklanders are obsessed with houses. Auckland voters who own their homes were already stressed about this plan, and if it turned into a full election issue with proper media coverage, even more of them would’ve become stressed.

That would mean blue Auckland voters heading straight to New Zealand First, ACT or Labour. So it was a political problem for National and Bishop had to back down.

But in reality, it’s not just politics, is it? It’s basic common sense. I think it’s reasonable for an Aucklander who has sunk one to two million dollars - maybe more, maybe a bit less, but still a lot of money - into their home to feel stressed at the idea of a multi‑storey apartment block popping up next door, blocking their view, blocking their light, ruining their privacy. Whatever it is.

We mock these people as NIMBYs, but actually, I think it’s fair for them to want to protect the place they live in. Don’t you want to protect the place you live in?

This battle, though, is far from won. Anyone looking at this and thinking, “That was a close call, thank God that’s over,” - it’s not over.

All Bishop has done is reduce the number of new houses to the point that it shouldn’t impact on suburbs. But whether it does affect suburbs is a decision for Auckland Council, and that decision hasn’t been made yet.

So while it should, on balance, be okay, nothing is certain until the Auckland maps are released. What this is, then, is one u-turn down, and one more to go.

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