Smith comfortable with Auckland Council zoning vote
Ultimately up to independent panel to deliver a Unitary Plan that meets growth requirements.
Building and Housing minister Nick Smith is striking a supremely relaxed stance about Auckland Council’s decision to withdraw contentious out-of-scope zoning changes that would intensify swathes of the supercity.
Far from the bellicose response one might have expected from the often combative minister, Dr Smith has been at pains to downplay the significance of the move.
Characterising it as simply the council ditching the evidence it would otherwise have presented to the independent hearings panel – rendering the council’s position “a nonsense” because there is a yawning gap between the required growth that’s been agreed upon and what the council’s submission allows – Dr Smith points out there will be plenty of other submitters to the panel.
That will include Housing New Zealand which wants vastly more intensification than Auckland Council does. Councillors backing the out of scope changes say they are now worried there will not be enough push-back on Housing New Zealand's plans.
Dr Smith says the government's submission is agnostic about whether the growth Auckland requires should be greenfields or brownfields – “We’ve always said Auckland needs to grow both up and out,” he says.
Just what the correct mix is remains “very much an issue that Auckland needs to work through itself.”
In any case, it’s ultimately up to the independent panel to deliver a Unitary Plan that can meet agreed upon growth requirements, Dr Smith says.
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Staff reporter
Thu, 25 Feb 2016
Thu, 25 Feb 2016
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Smith comfortable with Auckland Council zoning vote
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