Hauraki Gulf Islands  review

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Issues and options papers

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

Issue
CPTED stands for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. It is based on the concept that crime and fear of crime can be minimised through effective planning and designing of our built environment.

CPTED is only one approach to crime prevention and needs to be considered in a wider crime prevention context that also includes law and order and education. The focus of the Resource Management Act is generally regarded as being on environmental effects rather than on such social effects as crime prevention or fighting crime.

However, residential surveys consistently rate safety and the fear of crime as important issues for Auckland City. For example, people's fear of crime can affect how they use town centres, especially after dark. A lack of activity can reduce amenity values and for this reason crime prevention is a relevant resource management issue under the Act.

CPTED principles are considered for inclusion into District Plans because they are principally concerned with the design of the built environment - including both private and public elements. The public/private interface is central to CPTED.

CPTED principles have been incorporated in both the Isthmus and Central Area sections of the District Plan. However, there is no direct reference to CPTED in the Hauraki Gulf Islands (HGI) District Plan. The District Plan review process provides an opportunity to introduce the CPTED concept into the HGI Plan to ensure that these issues are considered during the design process for future developments.

Introducing CPTED principles into the HGI District Plan would be an attempt to ensure that certain activities and/or developments are designed to reduce opportunities for crime. This can be achieved in built design and site layout through the use of appropriate landscaping; lighting; clear visibility and sight lines; appropriate building frontages and facades; and the elimination of entrapment spots or of access to them.

You may have a better or alternative approach to those outlined below. If so, we would like to hear from you.

• Retain the status quo with no direct reference to CPTED in the HGI Plan. CPTED tends to focus on urban areas and the design of the built environment within them. Since the Hauraki Gulf Islands are generally not urban, the application of CPTED principles may not be applicable to them. Further, crime may not be considered to be of sufficient concern for residents or visitors to the Gulf for CPTED to be introduced.
• Incorporate CPTED criteria into the HGI District Plan with a focus on requiring certain activities, which already require resource consent, to be assessed against proposed safety provisions Safety guidelines could be developed to provide guidance on how to satisfy proposed safety assessment criteria. The issue with this approach is that the existing HGI Plan is generally not activities-based. Therefore, this approach would depend on whether the new plan becomes more activities-based.
• Incorporate CPTED criteria as part of wider urban design considerations, rather than requiring specific activities to be assessed against them. If design guidelines are developed for the Hauraki Gulf Islands, or if policy areas are used for specific town centres, then CPTED criteria could be incorporated within those design guides and policy areas.
• Incorporate CPTED principles with a focus on areas within the Hauraki Gulf Islands that are more urban in nature than other parts of the Gulf, such as Oneroa. CPTED could be introduced into the District Plan process either through activities within these areas or through design guidelines.

Note:

While this issue paper can be read in isolation, it is best read in association with the issue paper relating to:

• Design Issues