Take back the golf courses!

By
Martyn Bradbury
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32
1

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Goff makes a point that many of us have been making some time as we grapple with affordable housing in Auckland – take back the Golf Courses!

Golf Courses – apart from being a grotesquely elite old boys network – waste huge amounts of real estate and water. Most of these Golf Courses are heavily subsidised by Local Government so why should they remain for the elites when those elites won’t even let us move into their suburbs?

It is immoral to subside these elite spaces while 206 000 Auckland’s live in over crowded conditions.

Shamubeel Eaqub has already identified Golf courses as space to take for social housing, perhaps his suggestion requires a focused protest?

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32 COMMENTS

  1. You are being played by the government and developers.

    Instead of working out how to take away green spaces in the city – perhaps look at why the government is selling state houses in Auckland, why there is no public rail in Auckland, why chinese youth with $200k gifts can afford to buy up property in Auckland when local youth’s can’t.

    Making everything worse in Auckland with cutting down ancient trees, putting up shoebox apartments, putting in Bunnings, stealing harbour, prosecuting people for having a yurt on their lifestyle block, putting up mega mansions that block out others while pretending it is all for the poor (uhhh, more like against the poor), giant fences, giant statues, leaky buildings, apartments that rout out the poor with body corp levies, etc etc.

    First they will take the golf courses, but next they will take the parks, the schools and so forth…

    Be careful with what the so called left are advocating.

    You can be angry but show the anger where it should be, poor wages, unfettered immigration, no jobs, more insecure jobs, less public spaces, high power, water, insurance, zero public transport, pathetic urban planning where a high rise can build 2 cm from another blocking out their views etc Albany the cultural wasteland, turning Westfield into another etc etc

    And people like Shamubeel Eaqub, love to advocate all this, just as Bernard Hickey told everyone there would be a property crash for the last 20 years so that a lot of young people (and divorced people) did not buy a house thinking their would be a crash. Now they can’t afford to.

    Shamubeel Eaqub, works for Goldman Sacs. He advocates renting forever as owning property does not make sense economically. Bet his employers love him. As an asian leader he does not think immigration is contributing to the problem of housing affordability.

    • Shamubeel Eaqub / LinkedIn

      (I wasn’t aware of this part of Shamubeel Eaqub’s background.

      https://www.linkedin.com/in/eaqub/background/

      Economist & Analyst, Director

      Company Name Goldman Sachs JBWere

      Company IndustryInvestment Banking Company Size10,001+ empl
      Dates EmployedJan 2006 – Mar 2009 Employment Duration3 yrs 2 mos

      Description
      Responsible for analysing and forecasting all NZ macroeconomic metrics for equity analysts and fund managers

      Responsible for equity analysis of the listed property sector with six stocks under coverage

      Write reports communicating forecasts and recent news flow releases to clients and media

      Presentations to internal and external clients customised to their needs

      Penny Bright
      2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

  2. Good point. I’m sure it won’t be hard for them to build a nice new one at Matakana, where they can commune with ol’muffintops himself once he gets voted out (just kidding, he’ll be off to Hawaii as soon as that happens).

    And nothing makes me smirk more than the idea of libertard protocol droid Ceymour-3PO blowing a fuse as dozens of single mums and Syrian immigrants are moved into social housing complexes standing on the site of the former Remuera golf club.

  3. Yes Martyn, I am keen on getting involved in organised protests for this and other things such as free tertiary education, ensuring that housing intensification goes ahead, inequality divide is closed etc.

    Such movements (building on the back of the tppa matches) could help build a youth movement against the govt

    Let’s do it bro!

  4. Phil ‘ Neo Liberal Traitor ‘ Goff said ‘ take back the golf courses for housing’ did he.

    And you agree… ?

    I see.

    Here’s a little known historical/meteorological/fauna-cation fact.

    The closer you live to the equator, the less oxygen there is for the brain.
    See, oxygen is heavier than air and since the earth stands up, with the Arctic at the top right ? No oxygen up at the Arctic. Just air. It’s been proven. By the makers of Brawndo.That lack of oxygen in the air caused confusion when the explorers an’ that named the icy shithole known as Greenland, Greenland which is just snow and ice and the beautiful Iceland, Iceland because it’s got less ice an’ that and therefore Greener. Funny aye ? Haha! Yeah. ….

    Anyway, that’s why there are no penguins up there. Penguins spend a lot of time holding their breath down at the Antarctic where all the oxygen is so when they surface, all blue in the face and yellow eyed they need that oxygen man.

    Auckland’s like a penguin colony. Clearly, it’s on the edge of the South Global oxygen zone and you Aucklanders need to pull your heads out from up your arses and take a big breath of South Island air. Perhaps that’ll help you reclaim your dignity once you find your common sense.

    • While I agree with your opinion of Goff you really should know that the Earth is round & gravity works equally wherever you are. We need the voters in Auckland to change the idiot government so insulting them is a silly idea.

    • Countryboy, I am seriously considering moving south, not necessarily for your stated arguments, but because Auckland is becoming a basked case that expects central government and others to bail it out, while Council and planners have long ago stuffed up completely.

      We now have leftists here show faith in commercial property developers, pushing for more intensification, no matter what. I cannot believe what is going on, with such thinking, no wonder the progressives or “left” are losing across the show in this part of the country. Talk about hypocrisy and being lost for all answers.

      I just want to get out of this madhouse, that is my feeling tonight, perhaps I may meet you on your turf one day.

      • “leftists here show faith in commercial property developers “ – asking for more intensification is not the same as showing faith in property developments.

        “Auckland is becoming a basked case that expects central government and others to bail it out, while Council and planners have long ago stuffed up completely.”

        Rodney Hide’s structure of Auckland Council did not follow Royal Commission guidelines, and was IMO, set up to facilitate sales of council assets. Despite John Key’s introduction of John Banks at a public meeting as “the mayor of the new Auckland Council” – Len Brown was voted in. National had to bide their time and grit their teeth. Meanwhile Len underwent a metamorphic change by virtue of the environment, and while slowing down sales, has come around to the doublespeak that is practised.

        National has also changed the Local Government Act, and refused to ratify the Unitary Plan when it is presented to parliament unless SHA’s were permitted. Until this point, most Aucklanders had submitted in favour of intensification. Instead of making a stand, Len Brown gave in to these bullying tactics and the argument is now falling apart even further.

        The separation of Auckland Council and Auckland Transport also gets in the way of good long-term planning.

        Other aspects of housing out of the control of Auckland Council:
        – loss of stable, state housing,
        – failure to limit residential sales to NZers,
        – failure to reasonably tax capital gains, in particular for serial “flippers”,
        – failure to produce an economy where house speculation is not the easiest and fastest route to personal wealth,

        Auckland Council does have a role to play in terms of housing. But has very strict limits, and is minor in the overall scheme of things.

        Ensure that finger-pointing you are encouraged by the Herald to engage in for housing – includes fingers pointed in the direction of government policy. That is the policy that has the most impact.

        • “Until this point, most Aucklanders had submitted in favour of intensification.”

          Most Aucklanders did not submit anything to the Unitary Plan, as despite of some efforts to inform the public, the vast majority took too little interest, even now most have little clue what the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan stands for.

          http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/PLANSPOLICIESPROJECTS/PLANSSTRATEGIES/UNITARYPLAN/Pages/submissions.aspx

          In 2010 about 50 percent of Aucklanders that were entitled to vote bothered to vote, and in 2013 only about 36 percent.

          http://www.dia.govt.nz/Services-Local-Elections-Index
          https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Local-Elections-Local-Authority-Election-Statistics-2013?OpenDocument
          http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11139256

          There is little actual participation on a percentage basis, and the numbers of submissions on the Unitary Plan may seem large, but they represent only a minority of Aucklanders.

          Re housing preferences Council did a survey and brought out a report called ‘Housing We’d Choose’, which shows an increased number of persons prepared to consider living in attached housing, such as Terraced Housing, or apartments and in units. But most still prefer detached homes to live in.

          http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/aboutcouncil/planspoliciespublications/technicalpublications/tr2015016housingwedchoosewithappendices.pdf

          As for the Unitary Plan, the hearings have so far mostly been dominated by Council and a select few large submitters, many being businesses, also a fair few developers, some large government and other institutions. They were largely involved in drawing up the changed Regional Policy Statement, now used as a reason for more intensification.

          The Council research unit has done more recent capacity and feasibility modeling and already achieve a high number for capacity that can also be developed, as changes to certain zone rules and development controls will allow denser building in Mixed Housing Urban and Mixed Housing Suburban zones.

          The recent issue was about Council rezoning some larger areas than expected in a few suburbs out east and central west, which the residents felt were not notified and not giving them a chance to submit on. Claims by Council planners that they can try and use existing submitters to present evidence was BS, as the deadline for evidence already passed, and as this is technically and legally not as easy as some think.

          I know that Aucklanders, young and old, with or without property, could submit to the plan, but did not, many not bothering, not knowing what it was about and some finding it too difficult and too complex to deal with.

          So to simply say most Aucklanders want up-zoning and so, that is not sufficiently proved, the stats do not back it up. But I agree, more intensification is needed, but it has to be done right and with consultation with existing residents and owners. The law requires this. Council stuffed up by going too far with out of scope zoning and the Auckland Council meeting last Wednesday told them to withdraw the out of scope rezoning. The Planners have apparently decided to withdraw all evidence, for peculiar reasons, and have shot themselves in the foot.

          But apart from all this, you re right with much what you say about central government and their agenda, and they are carrying a large size of responsibility for the undemocratic system we now have, which leaves Council with hands tied in many things, and which also now enables business and economic interests to get more preference, before environmental concerns. That is the result of some changes the government made to the RMA. The housing price bubble is also largely government’s fault, so we should direct some deserved criticism at them.

          Auckland is a mess, I fear, due to the sum of all the above and more.

          • Councils are seen as corrupt, and the so-called consultation process is repeatedly seen to be a farce, so it’s hardly surprising the level of disengagement increases with time.

            Council officers will continue to make a mess of everything they touch until they can’t. That point is now not far off.

        • IMO Len tripped over a Bevan Chuang honeypot (strategically placed by Luigi Wewigi and John Palino with puppet masters pulling theirstrings) and National thought that Len would resign. He didn’t and hung on like a limpet.

          Still there’s another neolib-cum-Nat in woolly red clothing with Goff, waiting to implement what Banks couldn’t do.

          UNder Goff, look forward to 3 storey high density housing on Remuera, Ponsonby and North Shore golf courses, as Goff tries to meld his Labour roots, with his ACT ones.

      • @ Mike In Auckland.

        Hey man. I pity Auckland people, I really do. And do come on down, you’d be welcome.
        You’re being manipulated and swindled. I also envy the hell out of your house prices because if I woke up and discovered I was a millionaire because of the manipulations of bankers and sundry other debt pimps ? I’d be fucking gone with the cash.

        Without wading knee deep in detail, where I’m told the Devil lurks, this is why Auckland is where it is, why it is and why it’s doomed.

        Without wanting to seem condescending;

        NZ has, is and will always be an agricultural economy. Other than the actual, literal lands itself, that is all we have. We do have sweet crude oil but not much of it. We have vast areas of LPG but that’s owned by Shell and that’s why we can’t afford it. ( Todd Group offered subsidies for people converting their cars to LPG but our Government stepped in and fucked that up in preference for Shell’s dominance. )
        We have fishes, the ones we export but can’t buy in our supermarkets or are so expensive we can’t afford them.
        We had forestries but if you watch the excellent film ” Someone Else’s Country ” https://youtu.be/QJQvKIHV6n4 by Alistar Barry a nice man will tell you where that went. Along with everything else.
        So, we have an agricultural economy… How then , does Auckland do it? Why does Auckland exist all? Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice that it does. Tries to show a leg. Tries to be urbane and does it’s best to compare to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Bluff.
        Here’s the unpalatable answer Dear Aucklanders.

        You exist because of the swindling of monies from farmer made export goods once having been channelled into, then laundered through, dodgy producer boards pretending to be there for farmers to guarantee best possible and most reliable at the farm gate returns but they, the producer boards manned by Old White Crooks, in fact fucked every cocky in the country by burying them in debt after they pissed off our trading partners by inflaming Unions, hoarding farmer made product ( wool in this case ) in vast warehouses and generally manipulating volatile currency markets to suit themselves and that’s exactly what they’re still doing to this day. Farming water boarded by Bankers, as we’re now seeing with Dairying. Same old, same old.
        It’s a game to them. It’s a swindle. Auckland is there because of swindlers and liars playing games with your lives. And making shitloads of money of course. And since Auckland exists on a false, borrowed economy? That economy is super-easy to manipulate i.e. blow out your property values because Auckland property values are mythical riches unless, ironically, one moves to cheaper regions. Is that why property rates in cheap regions are bizarrely high against capital value? To keep people away? Keep you in debt in Auckland? Why would a government deliberately discourage city people from moving into our export earning countryside? You’d think it’d be the opposite strategy? Unless it was trying desperately to hide a lie. An ancient lie that’s lined the pockets of generations of swindlers.
        Proof of my allegations ? It’s right there in front of you. What else does NZ do to earn revenue? And if some of you try to put up an argument that it might be tourism or snow boarding or cheese rolls ? Yeah, nah would be an answer that most NZ’ers would understand.
        I see bill english trying to damage control Auckland. He’s deflecting responsibility to Auckland for the mess it’s in. He’s precisely the traitor within farming that’s perpetuated the Lie. It’s him and his kind that set up his own people then fucked them so vigorously that there’s not much left of what was once a fabulously rich country providing a vital resource to human survival to an increasingly expanding market. It’s thanks to holyoak, english , douglas, quigly, richardson etc etc that’s sentenced us great Kiwis to generations of anxiety and impoverishment in a rich , beautiful little country.
        I think I’ve about covered it. Good luck Aucklanders. You fucking well need it. As do we all actually.

        Before you start throwing ropes over rafters, here’s two things that can be done.
        Foreign Banks ?
        Out.
        Mortgage debt ?
        Wiped.
        Tax exempt regional agricultural towns like Gore, Winton, Wyndham, Otautau, Tuatapere, Balclutha, Tapanui, Milton, Lumsden, Dipton, Ohia, Nightcaps, Invercargill etc.
        Agricultural training colleges developed in those regions for young people who have no idea how to grow even a fucking spud for Gods sake! They must eat supermarket pizzas because they just don’t know. It’s not their fault. They just don’t know how.

        How to achieve such wonderments? We need a leader. We have no natural leader, so we must purchase one. We should appoint a Leader on a contract basis and have them lie their way for us to a better place. It’s working for Donald Trump.

        http://boingboing.net/2016/02/19/citizens-who-speak-at-town.html

        Or:
        Take the money and party until you’re fucked.

  6. I recall scenes in the 1972 (?) movie, SOYLENT GREEN, when people lived in derelict cars, clogging up streets. That’s over-population for you, and a reminder that our little planet has finite room and finite resources.

    I don’t know what the answer is, but maybe other cities should be encouraged to taken on extra people rather than Auckland.

    • there are 20000 active golfers in Auckland and 33 golf courses there subsidized by the rate payer but same argument could be applied to race courses there is also the issue of land banking by the elite the Keith hay group in mt roskill comes to mind we cant just attack golf courses a land use policy will need to be developed and applied without bias to public and private land equally . i liked what Colin Craig said use it or loose it ,unimproved land could also attract hefty rates those elites should pay a price for there privileged positions remurea golf course should be the first target for protest action count me in john keys a member there i understand they only have 1500 members using half billion dollars worth of land and paying pepper corn rates Bernard hickey explains the rip off in this article
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11549347

  8. Martyn raises a very good point here, Auckland is full of spaces that are wasted, really, wasted!

    Look at all these shopping malls, where more than half the ground is covered by endless car parking spaces, look at the golf courses, where a few that love that green grass to hit a few balls around get their luxury space to live in, which is a questionable use of grounds. In Japan they have golf ranges on top of high rise buildings or in narrower spaces, they just make more use of it.

    I am rather astonished how we get confronted with the arguments of residential intensification, when we do as a large city only need to make moderate compromises and adjustments, we do not need high rise buildings over 5 or 7 storeys, that is not needed at all in most places. If we only allow the Mixed Housing Suburban and Mixed Housing Urban areas to intensify a little, we will have ample residential housing capacity, PLUS if we dare discourage car use, and parking, we would have massive spaces to build up, to say three or four storeys, not upsetting or blocking views of people.

    Get rid of the golf courses, the too large parking areas, set the rules and system to force people to switch to public transport, and leave the car at home, or better at the car sales yard, and we will get there, with little sweat and tears.

    But no, the planners of Council and some submitters want both, high rises in unsuitable places, plus still much enabled parking, motorways and what you have, as they dare not challenge the wasteful, out of date “Kiwi lifestyle” of driving everywhere, no matter what, to the corner dairy, the school, the job or whatever.

    It is time people wake up, smell the coffee, and get the best of both worlds, more space, more use of it, with good environment and building design, and by avoiding the stupid mistakes made overseas, of building up too high, thus creating ghettos that few want to live in. It could all be so easy, would people be a little bit smarter and adjust.

    And we would probably even avoid the senseless battles with so called “nimbys”, who may finally see the light and benefits.

  9. I would be wary of moves to swallow up open green spaces near the city central, god forbid Cornwall park should ever go. But golf courses are very exclusive and while maybe some houses could be built there, green spaces are vital for collective sanity.
    I would suggest though that some sort of movement be started to make sure the city fathers protect the good horticulture land in the old franklin area. Neo liberalism will see that chewed up and spat out by developers if something is not done to make sure it isn’t

    • The “good old horticultural” land in Franklin, is not going to be protected while the “good old boys network” still exists.

      The planning recommendation by Richard Gard’nr (Regulatory Planning Coordinator Landuse) for the Craddock intensive egg-production consent, shows how process is owned in certain areas by local connections.

  10. Goff doesn’t mention that the Remuera Golf Club have a lease that will be going on for some decades yet, so his posturing is meaningless. If people are so affronted by having that space as a golf course for a few, why not turn it into a public park for all to enjoy – Why build on it? – once it’s gone, it’s gone – Auckland need to preserve large areas of green open land with trees – people in apartments say that they want larger apartments with parking for two cars (which Penny Hulse is desperate to outlaw) and a large park very close by that they can go to, to stop the feeling of claustrophobia, which can easily happen being closed into a small space for long periods of time. Most people who live in apartments are either younger people who are out all day working, or older people who are either away alot or have the apartment as an occasional place to stay while in the city. To expect people to live in a small apartment and stay in there all day, every day, with no open spaces to go to nearby is asking for trouble – and what about those who lived there before having children, who now HAVE children, but can’t afford a standalone house yet ? Where do their children go to play and burn off energy? Open spaces are vital for Auckland, for filtering the air, for people to walk through, and for children. How would New Yorkers get on without Central Park?

  11. Goff wants the sale of the Auckland Council-owned land to be discussed. Isn’t that privatisation?
    The market has failed to create enough housing. The Auckland City Council should start building and owning the solution.

  12. I knew plenty of workers who played golf at Western Springs. I suspect that Goff, true to form, is seeking to help developers. As usual, this is done by handing over the commons. What a shame we won’t have a real left winger standing for mayor.

  14. Come on Martyn

    Remuera Golf Course cannot be built on unless the government passes an act invalidating the lease and terms of the trust. I note you forgot to mention that Goff didn’t mention the golf course in his own electorate?

  15. A golf course may be a ‘green space’ but it is one you can not enter and enjoy ……………. unless you are playing golf.

    If they converted 14 of the 18 holes into housing and converted the rest into reserves and parks then Auckland would have more public ‘green space’.

    At the moment it’s a ‘green space’ for john Key and his ilk and no-one else……..

  17. No aspect of our predicament is in any way improved by having more people -professor Albert Bartlett.

    When the globalised financial-economic system collapses over 2016 to 2020 Auckland will quickly lose its appeal and there will be plenty of empty houses. And not much food.

    Anyone with a brain would have, for decades, been advocating severe restriction of breeding and immigration and covering golf courses with fruit trees and permaculture gardens.

    However, we have already seen that governments and councils are almost completely brainless and acting as saboteurs, as are the people who vote them into power.

    ‘Interesting’ times.

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