The Auckland Council has signed off on the city’s massive Unitary Plan, which has taken some 250 days to bring to fruition and four days of final discussion by council.
Not surprisingly, the decision was warmly welcomed by Auckland Mayor Len Brown, who labelled the approval of the 7,000-word document an “outstanding success”.
“My colleagues are to be applauded for their positive manner, as is the public for allowing us the space to deliberate accordingly.
“We now have a very finely balanced plan which will ultimately deliver for the benefit of Auckland. I also salute the outstanding professionalism of council staff.”
Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Auckland Development Committee Penny Hulse led the bulk of the Unitary Plan process. “Without a doubt, this is the biggest exercise undertaken by Auckland Council since its inception and it simply couldn’t have happened without the drive and passion from everyone involved.
“Without them, we would not have the plan we have today – a plan that will help grow and shape our incredible city in decades to come.” says Ms
Hulse adds that the decision would enable the building of more affordable homes. “It allows for terraced housing, for apartments, and different kinds of homes, and they’re simply going to be more affordable than the standalone houses that we’ve got now.”
The Unitary Plan was developed to meet a forecast increase of between 700,000 and one million new residents by 2041, which meant finding or building more than 400,000 new houses over the next 25 to 30 years.
By necessity the plan makes many changes, most significantly to the type of housing that can be built:
- up to 70% of future growth will be within the urban area and up to 40% in surrounding rural areas and towns, adding capacity for 422,000 new homes over the next 30 years
- only 22% of Auckland’s urban residential area will be restricted to single homes on sections
- 39.2% will be zoned Mixed Housing Suburban, generally two-storey townhouses
- 19.8% is zoned Mixed Housing Urban – townhouse developments up to three storeys
- there is no restriction to the number of dwellings that can be built on a single site in these zones
- 6.5% of the residential area is zoned for higher-rise apartments and terrace housing.
The council also decided to:
- remove a blanket, temporary check on developments in pre-1944 neighbourhoods in favour of more carefully researched and limited “character” areas.
- drop proposals to require 10% of housing developments to be “retained affordable homes” as the majority believed that other aspects of the plan better deliver affordable homes
- re-instate rural zonings on two heritage volcanic fields in south Auckland, including Crater Hill, which the panel zoned for housing.
However, the council is required to maintain at least seven years of ready-to-build housing land served by bulk infrastructure for developers can tap.
The Rural Urban Boundary will be expanded by up to 30% over the period to open up more new land for development as the city grows, with flexibility to move the boundary through private plan changes.
The result will be a more compact city with opportunities to build more homes in the existing urban area of two to three stories, and up to six stories close to town centres and transport hubs.
There will also be a focus on high quality urban design, including the requirement for a resource consent for more than three dwellings on a site that complies with urban design rules and a minimum size for apartments.
Historic heritage will be protected with approximately 120 additional historic places scheduled, as well as the retention of protection of 74 volcanic viewshafts, while rural areas will be managed so that rural activities are the primary focus.
The plan has been welcomed by Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith, who said the plan was a “key component of the long-term solution” to Auckland’s housing challenges.
“This plan eases zoning regulations and the more than 400,000 properties it allows for is about double that of the plan which was notified by the council in 2013.”
Smith added that the government has “always said” that council rules which have blocked new housing development are at the core of the city’s housing problems, and the new plan is at the heart of the long-term solution to Auckland’s housing problems. “The plan allows the council to move on from the cumbersome and outdated plans it inherited from previous councils.”
The Green Party, meanwhile, sees the passing of the plan as a “big step towards building a better, more affordable Auckland”, but called on the government to make the plan “work properly” by cracking down on property speculators, investing in public transport and “fixing” the Building Code.
“The Unitary Plan will probably, on balance, allow more urban sprawl than it should so there is a need to ensure that new suburbs would be built as communities with good public transport,” Green MP Julie Ann Genter said.
The overall planning document for the Auckland region, the Unitary Plan replaces the district plans of the eight previous Auckland councils, work on it having begun shortly after the super city was created in 2010.
Any appeals or legal challenges to the plan must be lodged by 16 September, when the plan will officially come into force, although any section that is challenged will remain in abeyance until a ruling by the Environment Court.
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