*Some of the following statements have been abridged

Vic Crone

I welcome the extension of the Rural Urban Boundary which will allow a lot more homes to be built - though it begs the question of whether it should just be removed altogether. The balance between building up and out on the face of it looks good with 40 per cent on greenfield land.

I’d like to have seen a much closer correlation between intensification and public transport. There are areas we’re intensifying that are removed from good public transport options. We’ll have to make sure we fill those gaps.

This is one of the most important decisions our leadership will make for our future. It’s got huge implications over the next 30 years and we’ve seen the absolute passion from every side. The ultimate debate and decision should be made by the Governing Body, all elected and accountable to Aucklanders.

Phil Goff

The plan provides a unique opportunity to make the important changes needed to improve the lives of Aucklanders so that we can all enjoy living and raising our families in this fantastic city. With more than three-quarters of a million extra people expected to be living in Auckland within the next 25 years, it is clear that Auckland has to move up and out.

Transport and housing are the two most critical challenges facing the city. They must be tackled together which is why intensification around town and city centres, transport hubs and arterial routes is critical. Auckland is no longer a large provincial city. It is a small global city and the solutions we apply to it should follow the best practice applied in other successful cities around the world.

We need an oversupply of land to bring soaring property prices under control and to ensure that housing remains affordable for Auckland residents. The Kiwi dream of home ownership must be kept alive and rents also kept at reasonable rates. Intensification comes with pre-conditions. It must be accompanied by good transport infrastructure or gridlock will worsen. There must be good urban design so that we have a city we can be proud of with plenty of green and public open space.

David Hay

The Independent Hearings Panel has done an excellent job. They have made decisions that needed to be made, which the Auckland Council has had neither the courage nor foresight to make itself. This goes back nearly 20 years, to the Auckland Regional Growth Strategy in 1999, when the regional council and seven local authorities agreed to develop Auckland on the basis of a compact, quality, urban form.

Auckland became stuck. It could not expand significantly beyond the central isthmus, which it never will, until or unless there is an extensive rapid rail network that services the entire region. Governments led by both the National and Labour parties have focused on building motorways instead. Auckland could neither grow upward nor outward, and the extremely high house prices and extraordinary traffic congestion that we now suffer have been the consequences.

The Independent Hearings Panel has now invited the Auckland Council to do the right thing: to free up land for new housing development both on and off the central isthmus. Auckland's councillors now have to step up, show some backbone, and accept the panel's recommendations. If they don't, then Aucklanders should vote them out at the forthcoming elections.

John Palino

There must be a lot wrong with Auckland if this is the plan. I'm all over the city everyday and I hear that people love their city, they value their community and they want to keep living in their neighborhood. But apparently they're wrong. An unelected panel has determined there is so much wrong with Auckland that there isn't really worth anything keeping.

Heritage - gone. Character - gone. Leafy suburbs - gone. Backyards - gone. Schools with room for kids to run about - gone... We absolutely have options and to say otherwise is patently untrue. Auckland does not need this Unitary Plan. Auckland councillors must reject the Panel's urban intensification recommendations because alternate plans will deliver more housing, faster and cheaper and will relieve congestion and cost the council less.

Urban infill is the most expensive and slowest means of delivering housing. It's why supply is slow, it's why rates are going up and it's why congestion is worsening. Removing urban limits is the key to increasing housing supply, quickly and affordably. It allows developers to access large land holdings and achieve economies of scale.

Chloe Swarbrick

It's composed of a huge number of documents.

From first look, it's a crucial and necessary step towards tackling our city's escalating housing crisis and accommodating our continued growth.

Mark Thomas

The Panel has added rocket fuel to the original Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. Very significant changes have been made including adopting most of the earlier residential out-of-scope proposals that Council rejected in February and abandoning the pre-1944 character protection overlay with no replacement provision.

The panel has additionally redefined the term "out-of-scope" making it much harder for subsequent appeals if the recommendations are accepted by councillors. The Panel recommends a 22% reduction in the single house zone with central and west Auckland taking the biggest hits with over a 40% reduction.

The Panel proposes to expand the Rural Urban Boundary by 30% which includes bringing forward 37,000 new dwellings in rural Auckland. I don't believe the panel has established the balance needed for growth in Auckland and I suspect many Aucklanders will be alarmed at what they see.