New housing authority to drive development
AUCKLAND: The Government is bringing together KiwiBuild and Housing New Zealand under one mega housing authority to drive urban development, having the power to override local councils.
The Housing and Urban Development Authority would lead the Government’s largescale urban development projects while remaining the state landlord, Minister for Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford said.
The authority, made up of Housing New Zealand and its developer subsidiary HLC and the KiwiBuild unit, would have wideranging powers to speed up development.
It will be able to override existing council designations, cut the planning and consenting process time from five years to one year, build and change infrastructure, change bylaws and even reconfigure green spaces.
Mr Twyford emphasised the Government would be working alongside councils and there were checks and balances in place.
He said councils would not be able to veto any proposals and public consultation periods would be shorter.
‘‘There are so many things that slow down and get in the way of developments. It’s not just the planning system. Often, developers have to deal with 10 or 15 local government and central government agencies, it’s a nightmare for them,’’ he told Newshub Nation.
‘‘We’re creating a really joined up, onestop shop that can sit alongside council and unlock these big developments and allow us to crack into it at pace and scale,’’ he said.
‘‘We have put checks and balances around it. They are, for example, a number of decisions will end up having to go to be signed off by the relevant Cabinet minister. The plan for a given project will be open for public submissions.’’
Mr Twyford said no changes were planned for the current powers within the Public Works Act to be changed on compulsory acquisition and it was unlikely people’s private property would be acquired for developments.
However, he told Newshub, ‘‘You need to have those Public Works Act powers in your back pocket so you don’t get a single landowner blocking large development in order to make a windfall gain.’’
On the ability of the authority to acquire green spaces, Mr Twyford said it had to have the ability to reconfigure them but any changes would have to be signed off by the Conservation Minister.
Legislation to establish the authority will be introduced to Parliament next year and it is expected to up and running in early 2020. The Government has allocated $100 million to get it started.
The Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) said the approach was good to speed up the brownfields development in cities experiencing strong population growth.
‘‘Many of the powers of the new authority, e.g. compulsory acquisition of land, already exist in the planning system but this authority has greater power and an approach that allows it to speed up decisionmaking on developments,’’ EMA chief executive Kim Campbell said.
He said it would require genuine consultative approach with existing communities.
‘‘If development is managed properly, people requiring affordable housing will not be displaced from their communities so that fears of gentrification need not be a problem.