City Counselling w/ Shane Henderson: 12th March, 2026

These past two weeks have seen traffic in the city peaking, with the start of March Madness heralded in by students returning to university and people returning to work. While Auckland Council is working to bolster public transport services, some parts of the city still run into major congestion issues. 

This past week has also seen discussions around Planning Change 120, more commonly referred to as PC120. While the plan initially proposed a housing cap of 2 million for Auckland, the government has pushed for it to be reduced to 1.6 million.

The council has responded with a set of compensatory changes that would focus on reducing sprawl and boosting CBD intensification. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown spoke particularly strongly on the changes, indicating that if the government did not accept the change, they would stick to the original 2 million target. 

For City Counselling this week, News Director Castor spoke to councillor Shane Henderson about each of these issues, beginning with March Madness.