It seems more that he was overruled by Luxon, Seymour & Brown. But in a way the Epsom voters have won the battle only to lose the war.

There was never going to be 2 million new apartments all of a sudden, and so long as the provisions allowing the Auckland council to prioritise building in areas where there's infrastructure remains (which it does) - then Epsom has train stations and that's where they'll get built.