Tag: Urban planning

Unitary Plan Hearings Update (15/12/2014) – UPDATE #1

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Council Nutted Over Greenfield Releases

 

I am observing the Unitary Plan hearings currently under way in which the Panel is covering ‘Urban Growth.’

Currently the full panel is hammering Auckland Council over both the Rural Urban Boundary itself as well as Greenfield releases. Specifically around how the releases would be done and would the releases mitigate against land banking.

But the big revelation came from Council after Panel Member Shepard (http://www.aupihp.govt.nz/profiles/#panel) finally managed to get out them this:

Council to the Panel: “we’ve (Auckland Council) always been reactive and not having the budgets to service development”

 

Council was long warned on both those particular matters especially being reactive rather than proactive around infrastructure provisions. I distinctly remember early in the Unitary Plan debates in 2013 that we should be proactive rather than reactive with infrastructure provisions (amongst other things) but our Deputy Mayor, and Chief Planning Officer didn’t want a bar of it for being afraid of running into infrastructure surpluses rather than deficits as current.

In my opinion being proactive would not result in an infrastructure surplus. To get that you need a total economic collapse like the USA went through with the Global Financial Crisis which killed off many new Greenfield developments still sitting idle today and giving rise to that surplus. Auckland right now is not teetering on such collapses so we should be getting proactive rather than be reactive which proves to be more expensive as the Council is commenting now on not having the budgets.

UPDATE #1

Well this is interesting:

Fuller: Has there been a detailed economic study on house price on the compact urban form?
Fairgray No

No wonder why Council has at the moment buried the Cost of Growth Study until next year after it was meant to be released this month. It seems Council has NOT done any detailed economic studies on house prices via the compact city model….

 

Lessons for Sydney here as it embarks on its own Sydney Plan (A Plan For Growing Sydney)

 

Feedback Period Extended for Chamberlain Park

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Extended until next year

 

From Albert-Eden Local Board

More time to have your say on Chamberlain Park

 

Albert-Eden Local Board is in the early stages of developing a masterplan for Chamberlain Park and wants to know what users of the park and local residents think.

The board has extended the survey period, which offers Aucklanders the opportunity to provide input into the early stages of the planning process, until 30 January 2015.

Local board chair Dr Peter Haynes says the board has been overwhelmed by the amount of community interest in the future of Chamberlain Park already, and wants to ensure that all groups have the opportunity to provide input.

“This is the first stage of a significant process for the future of the park and it’s important that we start with a clean slate and consider as many ideas as possible.

“Right now, we are faced with a dilemma – the Albert-Eden area has Auckland’s lowest levels of open space with only 2.8 hectares for every 1000 residents.

“We also have almost one third of the region’s capacity shortfall in sports-field provision – this means that, with no real scope to add or improve more playing fields, many players are missing out.

“Projected population growth, lack of suitable land and funds to buy and develop more parks, and the changing needs of our people demands that we make smart decisions about the future use of places like Chamberlain Park.

“We need additional parks and reserves to allow residents to lead active and healthy lives,” he says.

People can complete the Albert-Eden Local Board’s online survey at shapeauckland.co.nz until 30 January 2015. The survey is a first-look at all of the possibilities for the park, including the adjacent Rawalpindi Reserve and the Western Springs Garden site, and asks people’s views on:

  • type of golfing activities – including six, nine, 12 and 18-hole courses, driving ranges, starting-new-at-golf and practice areas
  • sporting activities, including cricket, football, multi-use artificial turf, all types of rugby and baseball
  • passive recreation like walking, cycling, jogging, dog exercise and picnicking
  • play spaces, from playgrounds to skate parks and playing courts
  • cultural uses and community-based ecological restoration.

In keeping with exploring all options for the park, the survey asks for the public’s views on housing; however the board itself does not support this as a future possibility for the park.

“No decisions will be made on the future of Chamberlain Park until extensive consultation has been carried out. It will consider the interests of all users of the park and the wider community,” says Dr Haynes.

Dr Haynes points out that studies of golf trends indicate a preference for shorter courses with starting-new-at-golf facilities and driving ranges.

“Shorter courses are increasingly popular overseas, and learn-to-play facilities enhance the chances that we’ll see another Lydia Ko emerge in Auckland.

“The demand and market for golfing provision is changing. This is an opportunity to review facilities in light of current pressures for open space and recreation provision within the inner city.”

Once survey results have been collected, options will be developed for further consultation. This is likely to be later in 2015.

 

Further Information 

On behalf of New Zealand Golf, O’Connor Sinclair prepared National and Auckland Regional Golf Facility Studies (2013). The studies identified the following golf course trends and issues. This summary is derived from: “Auckland Golf Facility Strategy New Zealand Golf”. Findings include:

  • Increasing operational costs
  • Lack of income diversity: golf courses have traditionally relied upon membership revenue as their main source of income
  • Lack of diversity in golf experiences and player pathways: golf facilities are becoming less relevant to their surrounding community and not evolving alongside societal and technological trends or diversifying the golf experience enough to attract new participants
  • Oversupply of rounds in Auckland and low utilisation of golf courses across Auckland is low at 23 per cent. There is an oversupply of relatively homogenous golf services and facilities and therefore an oversupply of rounds at these facilities
  • Untapped target markets: Golf is currently meeting the needs of a relatively narrow part of the potential market and there is considerable opportunity for participation growth in new market segments.

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Bouncing Houses

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Too many on the move?

 

From Auckland Council on Housing:

Too many small Kiwi children moving house

 

Auckland Council says data showing nearly half of New Zealand’s children moved house at least once before their second birthday is a sign that renters need more security on the length of their leases.

The main finding of the University of Auckland’s Growing Up in New Zealand report – Residential Mobility Report 1: Moving house in the first 1000 days, is an unexpectedly high level of residential movement in young families – much higher than an equivalent UK study.

The report identifies housing tenure as the key determinant of whether a child moves; that is, those in private rental accommodation are most likely to move.

Auckland’s Deputy Mayor, Penny Hulse, said the survey provides evidence that achieving a stable housing situation is a major challenge for families with young children who are renting in Auckland.

“I am disturbed by the report’s findings that such a high proportion of our most vulnerable, being children, have unstable accommodation in the first years of their lives,” said Ms Hulse.

“This situation is not acceptable on any level. Auckland Council’s Housing Action Plan identifies the need for more secure rental tenure as a key priority. We are calling on the government to urgently address this issue and put some options to the community on how this can be achieved,” said Ms Hulse.

“Security of tenure for renters was a major focus of the recent Auckland Conversations event ‘What’s wrong with renting?’ which attracted close to 600 people, showing this is an issue that matters to Aucklanders”, said Ms Hulse.

Growing Up in New Zealand is a contemporary longitudinal study tracking the development of approximately 7,000 New Zealand children from before birth until they are young adults (the majority are in the Auckland and Waikato regions). Today’s release is the fifth substantial report from the study and the first in the new ‘Residential Mobility’ series.

For a link to the Growing Up in New Zealand report, see: www.growingup.co.nz/reports

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