Step in Sleepyhead move delayed

A crucial next step in Sleepyhead’s billion dollar north Waikato development will now take place in September.

Comfort Group is seeking to re-zone

178 hectares of farmland in Ohinewai from rural to industrial, residential and commercial.

The bed manufacturer is planning a

$1.4 billion industrial hub and housing community 5km north of Huntly – with factories, retail outlets and homes.

The project can’t go ahead until the re-zoning application is heard through

Waikato District Council.

An application was originally scheduled for June but Covid-19 pushed the hearings back, Comfort Group director Craig Turner said.

Uncertainty around when level 3 restrictions would lift impacted on the evidence-preparing process for the hearing, Turner said.

Ambury Properties Ltd is requesting the re-zoning changes for Sleepyhead.

The application will be heard with other Ohinewai re-zoning requests at Waikato District Council in midSeptember.

Sleepyhead has said its plan for the industrial mega-hub with over 1000 houses will bring about 1500 jobs to the region.

Space restrictions in Auckland meant the company wants to build in north Waikato to expand operations and find more staff.

Turner has previously said he wants to be able to provide affordable housing for Sleepyhead staff through the development.

In November last year, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Waikato-Tainui to work together on the development.