Special housing areas ditched
The Government has confirmed it will not extend the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act beyond September.
The law, introduced by the National-led Government while in power, aimed to streamline new developments by lessening consent times with ‘‘accords’’ between local councils and central government.
Labour criticised the areas as ineffectual in Opposition, and Housing Minister Phil Twyford yesterday said that houses ended up being more expensive inside the areas than outside them.
Since the law was passed in 2013, 11 housing accords have been signed.
‘‘Research found that in some cases houses were 5 per cent more expensive inside Special Housing Areas than outside them,’’ Twyford said.
‘‘Our Government recently considered extending this legislation but, on balance, the benefits did not outweigh the costs.
‘‘Therefore, no new special housing areas will be able to be established after September 16. Those being set up before this time will have two years to have their consents fast-tracked.’’
There has been strong speculation that the Government would not extend the law past September 2019, and Wellington City Council rejected some special housing areas in August in 2018 as it did not see a long future for them.
Tauranga city and infrastructure planning manager Andrew Mead was upset with the decision. The act had enabled them to progress proposed developments, he said.