Labour's proposal to ditch Auckland growth boundary wins over business lobby

Wednesday 18th May 2016

Labour Party housing spokesman Phil Twyford's proposal to abolish Auckland's urban growth boundary as a way to rein in ballooning land prices in the country's biggest city has attracted the support of business lobby group BusinessNZ.

Twyford today called for central government to use a national policy statement under the Resource Management Act to free up land for development by abolishing the boundary, and manage those areas in city planning, integrating land use with transport and infrastructure. He also wants to change the way infrastructure is funded, allowing for bond financing to be repaid over the life of a property, rather than have that cost capitalised into a new property and passed on immediately to the buyer.

"Auckland is the place where the housing crisis is most acute for a number of reasons, so it would be in a national policy statement to make specific directives to Auckland Council's unitary plan," Twyford told BusinessDesk. "Freeing up these restricted land rules is one of the most important fixes for land prices."

Auckland's housing market has shown signs of recovering its heat after it cooled late last year, and Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler this month said he was looking at new lending restrictions because of the threat house prices pose to the nation's financial system. Auckland Council is expected to make a final decision on its unitary plan in August, which is seen as an opportunity to unblock one of the channels holding back the pace of construction in the city.

Business NZ chief executive Kirk Hope welcomed the Labour Party's announcement, saying providing for more land is the key issue to free up the block on housing constraints.

"With agreement on this issue between both main political parties, it is to be hoped that local government planning decisions will take heed of the need to focus on land and housing supply," Hope said in a statement.

Twyford said the Labour Party would "absolutely" support the government if it adopted the proposals he's pushing.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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