An Aggressive Unitary Plan Won't Be Enough

Auckland Mayoral Candidate Mark Thomas said unlike his opponent Labour MP Phil Goff, he had a housing action plan in place irrespective of the outcome of the Unitary Plan. The Hearings Panel recommendations are being made public tomorrow.

"Even with the most aggressive Unitary Plan delivered by the Hearings Panel and accepted by councillors, Auckland will not make quick enough progress building more affordable housing under a business-as-usual approach."

Thomas has been the only mayoral candidate involved in the Unitary Plan's development and who had submitted directly to the Hearings Panel.

He announced his Special Development Area approach in May which would fast-track new housing and use direct council incentives to bust land banks and fast-track new house builds.

Thomas said his preference would be Government agreement to amend the Resource Management, Land Transport and Local Government Acts as necessary to establish the approach - following the Special Housing Area model. Having spoken to Finance Minister Bill English, he understood this was similar to the Urban Development Authority idea the government was considering.

However if the government won't act, he will use existing council resources. I will further reprioritise spending from councils $817M Governance, Support, Economic and Culture budget into greater growth funding to get the transport and other infrastructure for new housing developments."

"Council is not providing enough funding for our share of growth, we don’t work with private capital effectively and we are too slow to process consents."

"I will establish Special Development Areas in at least five key areas: Henderson, Onehunga, Manukau, Northcote and Takapuna. This will allow much quicker progress on at least 15,000 new houses, half the current deficit, on top of current developments."

"I will also use direct council leverage (e.g. rates remission, development contributions concessions) to incentivise land bankers to help bust land banks and develop land more quickly.”

Thomas said he had already flagged his proposal to swap half the airport shares and the port operating company to fund agreed infrastructure. He is also proposing to extend this approach swapping other council assets and facilities where a better return with affordable housing can be gained. This could include under-utilised stadiums and community facilities where local boards and their communities agree. He believed the housing crisis in Auckland justified these steps.

He will also fully implement the Rules Reduction Taskforce recommendations which he served on to change council’s culture, introduce a new ‘customer-led’ approach and dramatically improve consent processing times. This includes introducing a competitive consenting option.

"The compact city approach of the Unitary Plan has divided Auckland. Yet it is clear that Auckland needs a much wider range of housing options including more terrace houses and apartments.

"But these development options have to be better linked to the infrastructure needed, and to also take good account of the heritage and character housing types we value."

If the Unitary Plan does not strike an acceptable balance, Thomas will lead a plan change and develop a new ‘Hub and Spoke’ Unitary Plan model under the next council. A ‘Hub and Spoke’ approach would better connect communities to the development Auckland needs and provide the connections necessary for growth at the same time. Thomas said the Hub and Spoke approach was an adapted version of both Vancouver and Brisbane's planning model.

"Our planning should take more account of the way communities want to develop and where it is market attractive, and this should be much better linked to connecting infrastructure."

Thomas said his first priority as Mayor would be working with Development Auckland to establish the Special Development Areas where new housing can be built more quickly.

ends

© Scoop Media