Housing minister Chris Bishop might have to revise his view of local government, and of the Auckland Council in particular.
His coalition partner Act and even his own National colleagues from Auckland had pressured him into a back-pedalling political backdown this year – with a cut to a planning target for houses in the city from 2 million to 1.6m and then again to 1.4m.
But the council has just given him back a portion of what he wants.
After a festival of consultation and compromise, councillors on Tuesday endorsed a final housing intensification proposal to be sent to public hearings that bounced that minimum number of city homes back from 1.4m to between 1.5m and 1.7m.
At the upper end of that range, Bishop’s desire to force the city to increase housing supply, maximise benefits of the new City Rail Link and thus improve housing affordability is back closer to his sweet spot.
Where his central government political colleagues and agitation from National-friendly electorates had forced constraints on his ambitions, the much-criticised local politicians have opted to restore some of them, voluntarily and at their own political risk.
This is the latest iteration of change upon change that has been proposed as a response to a range of factors. First, housing affordability and shortages, second, the Auckland floods of 2023 with the need to limit future development on flood plains, and third a desire to force apartment developments close to new City Rail Link stations and bus routes.
The new target comes after the council’s response to Bishop’s 1.4m edict and a quick law change had gone out to the city’s local boards and iwi for consultation.
Council officers have distilled 10,000-plus submissions and feedback from the boards and iwi, to come up with a compromise that was lauded by the Mayor Wayne Brown and heralded by councillors from the outer zones of the Super City.
Basically it limits serious intensification, with apartment buildings between 10 and 15 storeys, to a zone within an arbitrary 10km radius of the city centre. Beyond the 10km zone, the only significant high-density buildings would be around substantial town centres, and with modest higher-rises up to six levels allowed along high-frequency transport routes.
Earlier proposals to allow higher-rise buildings beyond the 10km circle to near the high number of small, local shopping centres have been scaled back, and bus routes in the outer districts that aren’t high frequency will not be as built-up as once thought likely.
Instead, areas within that 10km zone and within a walking distance from all rail stations (and not just those on the inner Western Line and new City Rail Link stations, as previously targeted) will see more 10-storey apartment projects. Because of its geographical constraints, the station at Meadowbank’s surrounding area will be limited to six-level blocks.
Some councillors fought at the Tuesday meeting of the Policy, Planning and Development Committee to delay the whole process until Bishop’s Resource Management Act replacement laws are passed. Or to commit just to the ‘bare minimum’ 1.4m target, to spare communities from growth without adequate services. But both bids were voted down by substantial margins.
The council’s decision means an Independent Hearings Panel will be established to hear again from Aucklanders on the parts of what is known as Plan Change 120 that have survived the months of wrangling.
That panel will have until June 2027 to report its findings and the whole political hot potato will land back at the council for its final endorsement later next year.
Officials told councillors at the planning committee that going for the option that could see the ultimate target settle between 1.5m and 1.7m would give the hearings panel room to engage with Aucklanders’ concerns. If it agreed with them, it would have a buffer within which to find alternate ways of increasing density.
The committee chair, Councillor Richard Hills, declared this compromise option “less scary” for those who do not like density.
He warned his colleagues if they didn’t back the change to PC120 as it currently stood, the existing two million home target Bishop had set in stone last year with increased density across the region would live again.
Mayor Wayne Brown endorsed the compromise, saying it would leave 85 percent of Auckland’s properties unaffected, and simultaneously “make the most of a lot of cash we’ve sunk into public transport.
“We’ve kind of listened to everybody … We’ve stopped putting a whole lot of multi-storey buildings around small shopping complexes in parts of Auckland where they weren’t wanted.
“And it’ll look like a city, not a suburb.”
The decision to focus most intensification within the 10km circle around the CBD, and lessen planned density near shops and buses from Howick to Clendon to Te Atatu South was opposed by some fearing for the effects on the inner city suburbs, particularly heritage housing districts.
And the process followed by the government in particular was derided. Criticism stretched from right back to National and Labour agreeing in 2019 on a bipartisan medium-density residential zone which could have seen 3×3 homes (three houses up to three storeys high) across the region, through to Bishop’s ultimatums and backtracks.
Councillor John Watson described the seven-year saga as like something out of the 1970s UK TV comedy series Benny Hill, presumably slapstick, smutty and frantic.
Others from across the political strands said the chopping and changing had been shambolic and the result not perfect for anyone.
An officials report to the committee even included a segment headlined “process fatigue”.
The council’s chief economist, Gary Blick, said increased housing supply under the proposal was now “expected to reduce upward pressure on house prices” meaning future prices could be 3 to 5 percent lower than they might otherwise be.
The revised proposal was expected to see around 30 percent of new homes located within the 10km circle from the city centre, up from 17 percent in the existing plan.
Once the Independent Hearings Panel has heard from Aucklanders on this proposal, and the council has made its final call, the city faces a return to a major planning overhaul within a further year or two, to meet the requirements of the expected new RMA legislation.
That had inspired Councillor Mike Lee to propose an amendment to delay a decision on PC120 – and seek Bishop’s approval for holding off – until the RMA laws were enacted and the subsequent wholesale review of the Auckland Unitary Plan was undertaken.
“It’s sensible [to delay a decision] given how confused and complex this process has been. Pause this right now and put people out of their agony.”
His amendment was defeated 15 votes to six.
The ‘agony’ of the process goes on, for at least another year. Then the politics returns, for the council and Bishop – or his successor.
