Fast-track homes approved before the pipes as mayors warn ratepayers will pay

Summarised by Centrist

Fast-tracking housing is supposed to break planning logjams. 

Auckland and Queenstown Lakes mayors say it is instead allowing developments to leap ahead of the infrastructure needed to support them, leaving existing ratepayers with the bill.

Wayne Brown and John Glover have written to Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop seeking an immediate pause on further fast-tracked greenfield housing developments.

Their warning followed approval of the Delmore project near Ōrewa, which could deliver more than 1,200 homes. The problem is that Watercare says public water and wastewater connections may not be available until at least 2033.

The development would initially rely on private systems. During summer, treated wastewater could reportedly have to be trucked to Whangārei for disposal.

Auckland Council and Watercare opposed the project because it sits outside the planned sequence for infrastructure investment.

The mayors say fast-track approvals in areas without roads, pipes and public services create congestion, service constraints and higher long-term costs. Their sharpest criticism is that “the only real winner is the developer” when the true cost of growth is shifted onto the public.

That is the buried lead. The argument is not simply between people who want houses and people who oppose development. It is about who pays.

Bishop has now announced a law change allowing councils to reopen their development-contribution policies after fast-track applications arrive. He says “growth should pay for growth”, although projects already approved or substantially lodged could be protected from the new rules.

Read more at The New Zealand Herald and Newswire

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