Her majesty the landlord

The Queen has emerged as one of the biggest owners of land in Auckland.

The first stocktake of publicly owned land in Auckland shows ‘‘Her Majesty the Queen’’ as the registered owner of 23,334 hectares, or 4.75 per cent of the city’s land area.

Public sector land makes up 19.12 per cent of the city, and the most of the Crown’s share of that land is held in the name of the Queen.

Crown-owned land includes schools, hospitals, motorways and conservation land. Auckland Council and its offshoots are the biggest public landowners, holding 37,164ha or nearly 7.8 per cent of all land in the city.

The area of publicly owned land is boosted by large reserves such as Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands, and about half of Great Barrier Island.

Housing New Zealand is one of the biggest Crown landowners, with nearly 20,000 sections, totalling 1435ha.

The outlying parts of Auckland have the largest areas of public land, headed by the Rodney Local Board with 25,672ha. Great Barrier with its big conservation reserve had 19,508ha and the Waitakere Ranges Local Board has 16,975ha.

One-third of publicly owned land in Auckland is classed as ‘‘other’’ which includes coastal strips, some Ma¯ ori land and areas with multiple owners.

The stocktake had been suggested in 2015 by the Productivity Commission looking at using public land for housing. As housing minister, Nick Smith embarked in 2015 on a programme to convert up to 500ha of surplus Crown land for housing, but the work ended with only 25ha used, and two developments eventuated.