News Release
21 January 2015

Mayor welcomes ‘pragmatic’ proposals to reform RMA

Mayor Len Brown has welcomed a review of the Resource Management Act announced today by Environment Minister Nick Smith.

“From Auckland Council’s perspective, there is considerable scope to improve the RMA, in particular streamlining the complex processes councils are required to work within, reducing duplication and providing more affordable housing,” Len Brown said.

“I particularly welcome recognition of the needs of cities and urban areas, including housing and infrastructure, which the current legislation doesn’t cover well.

“Auckland Council is working closely with the government and we have had significant input into this discussion. We welcome the government’s desire to seek broad support for any legislative changes.”

Responding to an independent report by Motu Economic and Public Policy research also released today, the Mayor said:

“This report represents one part of the picture – the perspectives of property developers and some of the challenges they face, but it doesn’t balance that with the benefits to the community.

“The reality is that Auckland Council is doing a huge amount to improve the experience for developers – speeding up processing times, working more collaboratively with them, and processing a far higher number of consents than in the past.

“But we are also focussed on quality urban development, better links to transport and more housing choice. These are all of the things that will contribute to a more liveable and affordable city, and that Aucklanders are clear that they see as a priority.”

Current Building activity in Auckland

Land developers and builders are all currently highly active across Auckland. For the year to 30 September 2014, 7366 new homes were consented – up from 5647 in the previous year. This was the highest annual total for any year to September since 2006.

New dwelling building consents last November (967) were the highest since December 2005 and of those, apartments hit a high of 442 units

In the past three years, the volume of consents granted has increased by 20%. Council processed roughly 14,000 resource consents in the past year and 19,000 building consents.

Over the last few months, 98% of all consents have been processed within statutory timeframes (compared to 89% at the time of amalgamation and 95% in 2013).

Ends

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