11th September 2013

[Statement from David Thornton]

Unitary Plan to be notified with 100,000 fewer homes than needed to accommodate one million more people.

The Auckland Council yesterday passed a resolution to notify the Proposed Unitary Plan.

Mayor Brown has become obsessed with getting his highly controversial Unitary Plan notified before the end of this first 3-year term of SuperCity Auckland Council.

This obsession, supported by a mixed bunch of Plan-weary Councillors, has produced a Proposed Unitary Plan which an incoming council and local boards will probably have to withdraw because it does not meet the requirements and targets of the statutory Auckland Plan which is the guiding document for all the other council plans.

The Unitary Plan, due to be formally notified on 30th September, makes provision for only 300,000 homes which is 100,000 below the requirement in the Auckland Plan.

Even more relative is the original ‘split’ of 240,000 homes being built inside the present urban limit, and 160,000 outside that limit in the new Rural Urban Boundary zone.

The 100,000 homes which have been removed are mostly from within the urban limit which will result in greater demand for development in and beyond the new Rural Urban Boundary.

This switch will mean rewriting the Auckland Plan and the Long Term Plan to recognise a change in infrastructure requirement.

Furthermore voters in the council elections will have no chance of seeing details of what changes have been made to the draft Unitary Plan before voting open on 20th September.

The enormous cost of producing the Unitary Plan to date is already being paid for by ratepayers, and the cost to sort out the present chaos will need to be covered by increases in rates, or reduction in council services.

The headlong rush to notify the Unitary Plan will have huge consequences for Auckland ratepayers and residents.

ends

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