Mayor Len Brown has dealt a blow to Milford property developers by publicly opposing high-rise plans for the area.

Mr Brown spoke at a Mayor in the Square event this week in Takapuna saying that while he's supportive of high-rise intensification in the Takapuna metro centre he believes it shouldn't be spreading out into the neighbouring suburbs.

"I'm not comfortable with high-rise plans in Milford, I think it should be five to six storeys maximum and generally speaking three to four.

"I think there is a better market for that sort of development and the community is more up for it."

This comes in the middle of a two week hearing into plan change 34 put forward by developer New Zealand Retail Property Group to allow them to build three towers reaching up to 16 storeys on the Milford Mall site.

More than 3800 submissions were received on the plan change, the majority were in opposition.

New Zealand Retail Property Group chairman Mark Gunton says the mayor's comments may reflect his personal view but do not fit with the Auckland plan which encourages residential intensification to accommodate current and future populations.

"Milford is designated as a town centre and the Auckland district plan identifies Milford as a ‘high density centre' within which intensification, including residential intensification, is likely to occur," he says.

- © Fairfax NZ News