For green sakes North Wellington
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
Throughout North Wellington Council and residents alike are working to balance the needs of development with ecological preservation. Ngaio Residents? Association president David Hedgley says locals are ?polarised? over a district plan change that addresses development on regenerating private land. The change will allow ?1-2 houses built instead of 6-7 that could be in-filled?, says Mr Hedgley. District Plan Change 61 effectively curtails the number of dwellings that can be built on private property in an area of ecological value. ?We are positive about the change because it meets the needs of the community to retain the areas balance of housing and nature. ?It also meets the needs ? perhaps not fulfils ? of those who want to develop their sites with some dwellings, but they have to be sensitive to the local ecology? says Mr Hedgley. He says the change will effectively ?stop the complete removal of native bush? and make the area ?semi-protected?. The need to provide a balance between development and maintaining the suburban-ecology is a prime motivator for the association?s support of the planned changes. He says the local bush is ?coming back strongly and supporting regeneration in wildlife?. The plan change affects the land behind Heke St and Thatcher Crescent. Mr Hedgley says some residents think the plan change ?goes too far? and the area should become a conservation zone. The association has been planting hundreds of trees throughout the area in an effort to bolster native stock and support the Karori wildlife sanctuary. ?We are sympathetic to the council in their efforts to help native species flourish,? he says. Porirua City Council Environment and City Planning Manager Matthew Trlin says the Council is looking to protect more areas in a way similar to Plan Change 61. Currently Plimmerton, Pukerua Bay and parts of Whitby have a degree of protection from all-out development. ?We will potentially be extending the areas. ?The community says very clearly they value the way the place looks and feels, and that?s an integral part of what we are doing with the city,? says Mr Trlin. Making the changes successful requires more effort than simply saying certain zones are protected. He says the Council is focusing on updating the rural land section of the district plan. ?It?s not just about the rules, if landowners don?t look into pest and plant control... it?s only successful if we work closely,? says Mr Trlin. He says the recent purchase of Colonial Knob was ?to secure a greenbelt network from Porirua scenic reserve down into Tawa?. ?It was the missing piece of the puzzle in creating a greenbelt with Wellington City Council,? he says.
