27 July 2016

Auckland Council publishes final recommendations on Auckland Unitary Plan

Auckland Council today published the recommendations provided by the Independent Hearings Panel on the new planning rulebook for Auckland, the Auckland Unitary Plan.

The Panel’s report sets out detailed recommendations on the final shape of the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan, notified by Auckland Council in September 2013.

The recommendations take into account over 13,000 submissions, 10,000 pieces ofevidence and 249 days of hearings over the past two years.

Decisions on the Panel’s recommendations will be made by the council in meetings open to the public from 10 to 18 August, with the decisions publicly notified on 19 August.

The Unitary Plan aims to provide a single set of rules to manage how Auckland’s housing and infrastructure develops over the coming decades. It will also ensure that future growth is balanced with enhancing and protecting the things Aucklanders value most like our historic heritage and natural environment.

Auckland Council’s Director of Regulatory Services, Penny Pirrit said: “From our initial assessment, it’s clear that the Panel has endorsed and retained much of what was included in the council’s proposed Unitary Plan, along with many aspects of the evidence presented by the council and other submitters at hearings.

“Overall, the Panel recommends that growth within Auckland’s urban areas be focused around town centres, transport hubs and corridors, along with an expansion of the Rural Urban Boundary to open up more new land for development as the city grows.”

Among the many issues covered, the Panel’s report includes recommendations that the Panel says aim to:

• Focus urban growth on centres, transport nodes and corridors to achieve a quality compact urban form.

• Retain the Rural Urban Boundary but expand it to include 30 per cent more land and enable it to be changed by private plan changes.

• Enable a development pattern to meet demand for the next 30 years and double the feasible enabled residential capacity to exceed 400,000 dwellings.

• Ensure sufficient capacity for the next seven years.

• Enable the growth and development of new or existing rural towns and villages.

• Provide live residential and business zonings for some developments on the edge of existing urban areas.

The full set of recommendation reports and the Panel’s recommended version of the Unitary Plan is available to view at www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/unitaryplan

The Panel has also provided the council with maps which represent its recommendations in relation to rezoning, precincts, the location of the Rural Urban Boundary and the extent of the overlays. These maps are available through the council’s GIS viewer.

ENDS

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