The Auckland Council has bought over $12 million worth of land to extend the city’s Botanic Gardens, a purchase the city’s mayor called “a difficult decision” amid a budget crunch.

The council bought 1.6 hectares of land on Hill Rd, Manurewa, borrowing money to do so.

Mayor Wayne Brown said the benefit to future generations from the purchase, and the provision of open space in a fast-growing part of Auckland weighed heavily in its favour.

“We had to act now to protect [the land] from inappropriate development, or this opportunity would have been lost forever,” Brown said.

 “[This] decision ... will protect one of the region’s most treasured assets and provide both guaranteed access and greater protection to the Gardens,” he said.

The chairman of the council’s planning, environment and parks committee, Richard Hills, said the new land opens the possibility of developing themed gardens.

The Friends of Auckland Botanic Gardens congratulated the council for the purchase, which president Viv Canham said would increase the value of the gardens for its one-million-plus yearly visitors.

The council’s representative on the Friends’ executive, Christine Fletcher, said, “It is heartwarming to think ... we have been able to add to the legacy [of] the Gardens’ founders, who were referred to as ‘dreamers of the day’.”

The council paid $12.37m for the land, including GST.

Brown said the council “[didn’t] have funds sitting in reserve for open space purposes”.

“So the choice to debt-fund this acquisition,” he said,” is based on spreading the cost of a strategic capital investment across the generations that will use it.”

Hills said new themed gardens outlined in the Auckland Botanic Gardens Masterplan included “ethnobotanical gardens”.

“It’s exciting to think that this space could offer the opportunity to include Māori and Pasifika traditional gardens that provide educational, ecological and cultural experiences for visitors and future generations,” Hills said.

“Alongside meeting our core purpose of being a spectacular South Pacific botanic garden, there’s also a practical element that scored highly when assessing whether to buy this land.

“The ever-increasing popularity of the Gardens draws more and more visitors each year, putting pressure on busy Hill Rd and creating traffic safety and management challenges.”

The council could now change traffic management in the area when budget conditions allow, he said.

The Auckland Botanic Gardens opened in 1982 after the Auckland Regional Authority bought 42 hectares of land from the Nathan estate years earlier in 1968.

A Nathan family spokesperson said they looked forward to seeing how the new land would be integrated into the Gardens.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.