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Most Auckland suburbs will likely be spared sweeping housing change after councillors today put aside the boldest planning visions for the city’s future, despite these being tipped to deliver billions of dollars more benefit over a decade. Councillors instead voted in favour of two options concentrating future development around the city centre, train stations and bus routes. That closely aligned with existing planning rules and would make room for at least 1.4 million homes, Under these plans – named Option A and B – about 87% and 85% respectively of the city’s land area and most home owners would be unaffected and not subject to new planning rules. The plans debated today now go to iwi and local boards for input, with public consultation to come later in the year. The decision marked a major retreat from council’s vote last September to enable capacity for two million homes, a move that would have required rule changes across most of the city. That plan was drawn up after the Government told councillors they must allow for drastically more housing to be built, a directive ministers later walked back, slashing the target to 1.4 million homes amid election-year backlash from home owners. Councillor Julie Fairey was among councillors settling on the more development-friendly Option B, but fighting back against those wanting to push through the smallest change possible in Option A. “We are not here to do the bare minimum, folks,” she said during the debate. “If that is not something where we have ambition and vision beyond the bare legal minimum, then what are we doing here?” Others, such as councillor Maurice Williamson, had pushed for as little change as possible, saying current rules under the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) provided capacity for building homes that the city hadn’t even come close to using. Auckland Council staff have recommended so called Scenario B in which more houses would be delivered but 85% of the city's land area would not face planning changes. The debate has often pitted those believing that building more homes leads to more affordable housing, against home owners who fear clumsy intensification could put excessive strain on ageing pipes and roads. It comes after successive Governments have pushed for ambitious national planning rules to create room for more houses, which in Auckland cleared the way for more than two million homes. But as suburban backlash grew, the Government retreated and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop wound the capacity target back in two steps, to 1.6 million homes in February and 1.4 million in March. That was still above the roughly 1.2 million homes allowed under the council’s existing AUP. To reach the new 1.4 million target, council staff drew up four options. Option A was the most cautious, adding minimal changes to the AUP in which only 13% of the city’s land area would be subject to new rules. Council staff recommended Option B, which would leave room for 1.5 million to 1.7 million homes, concentrating on allowing intensive development around the city centre and more transport routes and hubs. Officials said Option A and B focused on making room for new houses primarily by allowing high-rise and apartment blocks to be built in select intensification hotspots. The main difference between the options, staff said, was that B allowed for more intensification hotspots. These plans would likely be easier to get past a future planning panel, which would have to assess the plans, because they were similar to current rules, staff argued. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has called for housing intensification to be built in the right areas. Photo / Cameron Pitney Options C and D by contrast would allow for more housing development in more locations, with the latter in particular making it easier to build three-storey townhouses and apartments in the suburbs without council planning consent. They would allow new developments to spring up more easily across more parts of the city, r...
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