Prominent business leaders, politicians, art figures, and architects have signed an open letter opposing Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed long-term lease to operate the council-owned Port of Auckland. 

Lady Pippa Blake, Sir Stephen Tindall, Sir Ralph Norris, Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, former National Party deputy leader Nikki Kaye, and celebrated writer C K Stead are among those urging councillors to oppose transferring control of 77ha of waterfront land to a foreign corporation. 

Brown hit back at the “group of self-importants”, saying they haven’t even read the proposal they are complaining about or bothered to talk to him. 

The mayor is keen to lease the port’s operations and use the council’s remaining airport shares to create a $3 billion to $4b wealth fund called the “Auckland Future Fund” while freeing up some of the port land over time. 

He has pitched the fund as a way to absorb the costly risk of future shocks, like last year’s storms, by diversifying the council’s asset base and securing the council’s financial future. 

Sir Stephen Tindall, CK Stead, Sir Ralph Norris, Lady Pippa Blake, Chloe Swarbrick, Nikki Kaye have all signed the letter to Wayne Brown, Photo / NZME 

The fund is a cornerstone of the council’s draft Long-Term Plan(LTP), also known as the 10-year budget. Public consultation on the LTP closes on Thursday and goes to the vote in May. 

The open letter opposing the lease has been issued by Stop Stealing Our Harbour, a lobby group that successfully stopped two massive wharf extensions at Port of Auckland eight years ago. 

Stop Stealing Our Harbour founder and spokesman Michael Goldwater said the future of Auckland’s waterfront is in jeopardy again. 

“A 35-year lease would continue the industrialisation of Auckland’s waterfront for nearly four decades,” he said. 

A long-term lease of Port of Auckland's business is on the cards. Photo / Supplied 

Stop Stealing Our Harbour has four key concerns: 

• The last three major port studies have concluded the port is unsustainable in its current location. 
• Keeping the port in its current location until 2060 imposes billions of dollars in road and rail costs on an already congested transport network. 
• The proposal contains no mention of the environmental and social impacts of the port remaining where it is. 
• Prolonging the status quo until at least 2060 prevents significant social, economic and environmental benefits from turning the port land into a thriving urban environment. 

“We call on Auckland councillors to vote against Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed 35-year lease of the Port of Auckland and recommend Auckland Council develops a long-term plan to transform the port land into one of the greatest waterfronts in the world,” the open letter said. 

Urban Auckland chairwoman and renowned architect Julie Stout said it was disappointing the mayor is championing a proposal that is unsustainable and counter to Auckland’s long-term interests, despite having chaired the 2019 port study that recommended the port move to Whangārei. 

Architect and Urban Auckland spokeswoman Julie Stout. Photo / Nick Reed 

“How can he conclude the port is unsustainable in its current location, and now propose a 35-year lease which would lock Auckland’s waterfront into the worst possible pathway?” she said. 

Brown said the group is arguing against shadows. 

“For a start, I haven’t proposed locking the port into its current footprint. Far from it. The proposal being consulted on includes two wharves being transferred immediately and then the 14.5ha Bledisloe Wharf within 15 years. You can’t go too much faster than that because the market can only take so much development land. 

“That’s all achievable with a lease, which separates port operation from land ownership. 

“If I was one of the self-importants who put my name to that letter, I would be embarrassed and annoyed at whoever conned me into signing it. They should start with calling me and we can discuss what’s actually being proposed, " Brown said. 

At this stage, the port lease is uncertain with a narrow majority of the councillors opposed. The Maritime Union of New Zealand has also come out strongly against the port lease, labelling it “privatisation”. 

Mark Lister, investment director at Craigs Investment Partners, liked how Brown is thinking outside the box to consider how to get more bang for the buck out of council assets to supplement rate increases. 

“The time is right for councils, not just Auckland, to start thinking whether there is a better ownership structure and better way to deliver the needs of the city,” he said.