Major opposition to government housing bill
A Housing Intensification Bill from Central Government received major opposition from Waipā District councillors at Council’s Strategic Planning and Policy Committee meeting yesterday.
The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply & Other Matters) Amendment Bill, discussed as part of the quarterly growth report update, would require allow medium-density housing for all residential zones in Tier 1 Local Authorities, including Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga Wellington and Christchurch Tier 1 urban environments.
Waipā is specified as a “Tier 1 local authority” along with Waikato district, and so will be required to include the changes in its district plan.
The Bill aims to improve housing supply by speeding up implementation of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) and enabling more medium density homes through an Intensification Streamlined Planning Process (ISPP).
The Bill outlines that Tier 1 councils will be required to adopt Medium Density Residential Standards which will increase the density in all residential zones apart from large lot residential zones.
The requirements would enable landowners to build up to three houses of up to three storeys on their site without needing land use consent, on most sites. This includes alterations to existing buildings. The changes also introduce no minimum lot sizes for associated subdivisions.
The bill was deemed not ‘fit-for-purpose’ for Waipā’s towns, with concerns raised that ad hoc ,three-storey developments, which would be permitted under the bill, would take away from the character and good urban design in Cambridge and Te Awamutu, and had the potential to overload stormwater, water and wastewater infrastructure by retrofitting into existing pipework. The Bill intends to deliver more housing, but doesn’t address affordability issues, Councillors noted.
Councillors also opposed the speed for expected adoption at end of this year, and the lack of any consultation with local government prior to the Bill being lodged.
Waipā Mayor Jim Mylchreest said the Bill should have been presented in a stepped consultation process with local government feedback taken on board.
“I think this is another knee-jerk reaction by central government that hasn’t thought the problems through. And we all appreciate that we need higher density developments but in the most appropriate place. In terms of spoiling our existing amenity values within our existing residential areas, this is almost guaranteed to do that.”
Mylchreest also expressed concerns about the shadowing effect from reduced boundary set-backs and major population impacts on soft infrastructure such as parks and reserves if the proposed bill was approved.
“This Bill doesn’t take into account the impact on our parks and reserves and the huge impacts that effectively tripling the population density would have on them. I think this is a recipe for creating slum situations and a huge additional cost on ratepayers to retrofit stormwater, sewage and water pipes. I think it’s totally inappropriate for Waipā.
“Council have established well-thought out plans that we have consulted on and got community support. The community that has bought into that for however many generations should get Council support to protect their investment.
“The community have trusted Council to enforce our existing standards to protect their position in the residential sense and we have an obligation to look after their interests. This is uncontrolled growth that’s going to impact on existing ratepayers,” Mylchreest concluded.
Staff will now put together the council’s concerns in the Waipā District Council’s response to the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply & Other Matters) Amendment Bill and send to or lodge with central government before the 16 November submissions deadline.
