The Local - Mt Victoria
Did you know 80s fashion is pretty hot right now? The other day I saw a hip young thing wearing an over-sized old school Steinlager t-shirt, straight from the days of KZ7 competing in the America’s Cup.
Also in vogue is reminiscing – if that’s the right term – about Rogernomics and the Lange government of 1984, 40 years ago.
It’s a good time to consider whether we’ve learned anything from history, because deregulation is back in style.
But instead of deregulating financial markets and removing subsidies as the fourth Labour Government did in the mid 80s, we’re seeing the removal of environmental constraints and anything that slows infrastructure development down.
And in the housing sphere, both the previous Labour government and the current National-led government have been keen to remove anything that might get in the way of developers doing their thing – in the hope that their thing will somehow lead to affordable housing.
The implications of this are now becoming felt, where new high density rules in inner city suburbs such as Mt Victoria mean residents no longer have much – or any – ability to influence the outcome of new buildings in their neighborhood.
I heard someone say once that town planning rules are like electricity – you don’t take much notice of them until they touch you.
Some people who are now being zapped are those living near the planned new Westbourne Grove development. A six-storey development is proposed on an elevated site, surrounded by one or two storey houses. The bulk of the building will block their light and introduce windows and balconies where numerous new neighbours can peer down into the previously private backyards.
Here we see the challenge of changing a neighborhood from one use to another. If everyone has built and laid out their homes and gardens in the assumption that their neighbours will not build higher than two storeys, then it’s an abrupt and rude awakening to find that that’s all changed and you’re going to have a six-storey apartment block metres from your backyard.
The irony is, as the annoyed neighbours are pointing out, that the new million-dollar-plus apartments will be purchased by the well-to-do rather than those seeking ‘affordable’ homes.
Like the 80s, will the winners from deregulation be the wealthy, while everyone else waits in vain for the ‘trickle down’ effects?
As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Jane O’Loughlin
Editor, The Local – Mt Victoria
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