Auckland not the only game in town

A year ago Kaitangata found itself the centre of world attention when it set out to attract new residents with two attractive points of difference – cheap housing and plentiful job opportunities.

In a purely local initiative, the town’s business leaders offered potential newcomers a house-andland package for as little as $230,000.

Before the campaign, the town’s population of about 800 had been shrinking.

A year later, house-building is about to begin for the first of 12 new families. Local farmer, property developer and town cheerleader Evan Dick hopes that 20 new homes can be built in the next three or four years.

Kaitangata’s success shows that, while New Zealand may be dotted with small towns which have seen better days, there is still plenty of potential in the regions given a bit of innovative thinking, faith, and love for the idea of a small-town way of life.

But at the same time, our rapidly increasing population – which has just passed 4.8 million according to Statistics New Zealand’s constantly updating online ‘‘population clock’’ – is concentrating in our congested urban centres. More than 1.6 million people are now living in greater Auckland.

While little Kaitangata is celebrating the prospect of a dozen new families, 45,000 extra people are settling in Auckland every year, which is why you now have to be a millionaire to buy a mortgage-free house in the northern city.

New Zealand has become a lop- sided country. The national population growth is 2.1 per cent a year. Auckland is growing by 2.8 per cent annually.

Only neighbouring Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Canterbury come anywhere close to it. All other regions are below the national average.

This explains why the Government’s newly-announced housing infrastructure agency, which has $600 million to spend to help speed up housing projects, is an Auckland-first initiative. Its first two programmes are on the Auckland fringes – at Wainui in the north and Drury in the south.

By comparison, a regional economic development plan announced in last year’s budget allocated only an extra $95 million for the whole country, to be spent over four years.

Regional development is the responsibility of no single agency. It is split mainly between the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

There are plenty of Kaitangatas around New Zealand, which could improve their lot with the right resources and commitment from the Government.