A long-running dispute over the future of Takapuna Golf Course on Auckland’s North Shore has finally been resolved, with local leaders approving a multi-use plan that balances sport, recreation and environmental needs.
The Kaipātiki Local Board voted Wednesday to transform the contested park space into a mixed-use precinct featuring golf, sports fields and indoor facilities — ending months of uncertainty over how the land would be divided.
The decision comes after Auckland Council moved to redevelop a third of the park into a wetland as part of broader stormwater and flood mitigation efforts. The 18-hole golf course operating on the site had initially pushed to remain on the land alongside a series of small stormwater storage ponds, but council ruled that proposal unworkable and asked the club to help shape an alternative vision for the recreational portions of the park.
Under the approved plan, the retained space will include a minimum 18-hectare golf course, two full-size sports fields, an indoor sports and events facility, safe pedestrian and cycling connections, and continued space for both Shore Archery Club and Sunnybrae Bowling Club.
Kaipātiki Local Board chair Danielle Grant hailed the outcome as a generational milestone for the area.
“This has been a once-in-a-generation decision for Kaipātiki,” Grant said. “Local board members have invested many hours reviewing information, attending site visits, engaging with the community and listening to a wide range of views.”
She acknowledged the road to agreement had not always been smooth. “This has been a complex and at times contentious issue, and we have worked respectfully through those differences to reach this point. We understand the importance of getting this right.”
Grant said the board had adopted high-level priorities designed to serve the community’s sporting, recreational and environmental needs well into the future — including a focus on forward-thinking infrastructure planning.
“This includes planning infrastructure carefully so that when work is carried out, it can be done efficiently and avoid the need for repeated disruption in the future,” she said.
A masterplan will now be developed to determine how the board’s priorities can best be delivered across the site. “The next step is developing a masterplan to work through how the priorities decided today can best be delivered on the site,” Grant added.
