My fundamental concern is that we don't make essentially irreversible decisions to develop the waterfront in ways which we will not be happy with in 10 to 30 years' time. I want to preserve viewshafts of the harbour, minimise the loss of public space to private ventures, and not have too many buildings cluttering the unique and wonderful harbour edge.

Enthusiastically adopted by city planners, the viewshafts have survived a quarter-century of growth. Plenty of developers have cursed Turner's viewshafts but few have challenged them.

The development drew 16 formal objections. Submissions opposing the project expressed concerns over traffic congestion, excessive height, and loss of sunlight, daylight, or views.

The council environment enforcement services manager, John MacLachlan, said the proposal appeared to satisfy most of the immediate amenity concerns, and that adverse effects on the environment would be minor.

"For example, the impact on identified view shafts is not a factor."