Plan Change 9: Kāinga Ora appeals against large blocks of Hamilton becoming Historic Heritage Areas

Government housing provider, Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, is challenging areas in many Hamilton suburbs being designated Historic Heritage Areas (HHAs).

In a Notice of Appeal (dated 21 March 2025), Kāinga Ora is opposing specific properties on Pinfold Avenue being designated as Built Heritage items and also most areas being designated as Historic Heritage Areas under Plan Change 9.

Kāinga Ora’s reasons for appeal are copied below:

6 The general reasons for this appeal are that, in the absence of the relief sought, the Respondent’s decisions:

(a) Will not promote the sustainable management of the District and will not achieve the purpose of the RMA;
(b) Is contrary to Part 2 of the RMA;
(c) Does not represent the most appropriate way of exercising the Council’s functions, having regards to the efficiency and effectiveness of other reasonably practicable options, and are therefore not appropriate in terms of section 32 and other provisions of the RMA.

7 In addition to the general reasons raised above, Kāinga Ora appeals theDecision for the specific reasons as follows:

(a) The Decision affords protection to typical examples of the State House programme that has occurred overtime, rather than identifying those areas of the City that hold a significant historic heritage value (such as Hayes Paddock). In doing so, the provisions unreasonably restrict the ability of Kāinga Ora to appropriately use, manage and redevelop it’s housing portfolio to meet the changing needs for public housing within Hamilton.

Historic Heritage listing of 11-13, 15-17 and 19-21 Pinfold Avenue

(b) Whilst the properties form a group of mid 1950s duplex buildings, Kāinga Ora does not consider that sufficient evidence or documentation has been provided ‘to substantiate the claim of rarity as a typology, or … to demonstrate that the architectural significance of the design, or any additional historical association that may be relevant’. Moreover, Kāinga Ora disagrees that ‘the simple association with 1950s state house development… imbues these buildings with additional heritage significance above and beyond other duplexes from the same period’

Identification and ranking of specified HHAs

(c) Kāinga Ora consider that the Council has conflated the obligation to maintain and enhance amenity value in accordance with section 7(c), with the protection of historic heritage from inappropriate subdivision, use and development in accordance with section 6(f) of the RMA. This conflation has extended to the inappropriate identification of pockets of state housing within Hamilton as historic heritage. This is clear through the Decision where, in reference to the disagreement of rankings between the Heritage experts, the panel states:
‘We also acknowledge that there is a potential for blurring the threshold between s6(f) historic heritage areas and s7(c) character areas – made more problematic by the fact that the Council appears to have decided not to identify character areas or to use a character area overlay in the Plan so leaving a lacuna in that respect. However, we have concluded that given the strong direction of s6(f) RMA, and the absence of s7(c) character/amenity areas in the ODP, it is more appropriate to err on the conservative side of that disagreement. In other words, we conclude that it is more likely than not that those proposed HHAs qualify for the lesser ranking (comparable to the BH distinction between the A and B rankings) but merit a degree of recognition and protection. The plan provisions then provide a pathway for consideration’

(d) In assessing the HHAs against the Assessment Criteria of APP8, the Kāinga Ora expert4 did not consider that these would be either ‘High’ or ‘Outstanding’ examples and therefore would not warrant identification and protection under section 6(f).

Maps of the areas being designated as Historic Heritage Areas under Plan Change 9 (and the areas where Kāinga Ora objects to those designation) are copied below.

[Editors Note: Some of these Historic Heritage Areas may or may not have been removed from the latest version of Plan Change 9, this HCC website claims to provide an up-to-date map of the Historic Heritage Areas https://hamilton.govt.nz/property-rates-and-building/district-plan/plan-changes/plan-change-9/historic-heritage-areas ]