NZ Urban Development news from the media | 9 August 2022 | Council approves proposed changes to city’s planning rules

Council approves proposed changes to city’s planning rules

Auckland Council has approved the proposed plan change to the Auckland Unitary Plan – the city’s planning rulebook – to meet central government requirements for greater building height and density across the city, with people being able to make submissions from 18 August 2022.

The proposed plan change – called the Intensification Planning Instrument – responds to central government’s National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) requiring the council to enable buildings of six storeys or more within walking distances of Auckland’s city centre, other large metropolitan centres and around rapid transit stops, such as train and busway stations.

It also responds to legislative changes to the Resource Management Act requiring the council to enable more medium density three-storey housing across most of residential Auckland.

https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2022/08/council-approves-proposed-changes-to-city-s-planning-rules/

What will Pukekohe look like in the future?

Stock trucks and produce lorries once rolled through Pukekohe but today they bypass the town while megastores drag shoppers to nearby precincts.

Change is inevitable and shaping it is the role of Auckland Council’s urban regeneration agency Eke Panuku - working with Franklin Local Board and the community.

Now people are being invited to comment on the draft Pukekohe Masterplan’s vision.

Eke Panuku southern priority location director Richard Davison isn’t nervous despite the backlash last year’s one-way trial caused.

https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2022/08/pukekohe-masterplan/

New housing rules warning - ‘We don’t want Hamilton as a dump’

The political hot potato of providing for greater housing intensification in Hamilton has heated up even further – with a councillor warning the city could look like “a dump” if they get it wrong.

A city council district plan committee hui this week signed off on Plan Change 12 (PC12) despite a range of reservations from councillors keenly aware of the potential of ratepayers being unhappy about three storey townhouses allowed over their fence in an election year.

The change opens the path for new Government housing intensification laws. But it aims to manage change in a way that takes account of local sensitivities and issues, including the need to protect the Waikato River.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/300654142/new-housing-rules-warning---we-dont-want-hamilton-as-a-dump

Auckland Council monthly housing update, August 2022

August highlights:

• 1831 dwellings were consented in June 2022.
• In the year ending June 2022, 21,609 dwellings were consented in the region.
• 20 per cent of new dwellings consented in June 2022 were houses, 12 per cent were apartments and 68 per cent were townhouses, flats, units, retirement village units, or other types of attached dwellings.
• 59 dwellings were consented on Kāinga Ora or Tāmaki Regeneration Company owned land in June 2022.
• 1714 of dwellings consented in June 2022 were inside the RUB. Over the past 12 months, 93 per cent of new dwellings consented were inside the RUB.
• 32 per cent of dwellings consented were inside the 1500m walking catchments of the rapid transit network in June 2022.
• 1246 dwellings were ‘completed’ by having a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) issued in June 2022.
• In the year ending June 2022, 12,900 dwellings had a CCC issued.

https://www.knowledgeauckland.org.nz/media/2437/auckland-monthly-housing-update-08august-2022.pdf