Sign In / Register
Rodney residents could see changes to future development in the area after Cabinet agreed to legislate lower housing capacity requirements for Auckland’s proposed Plan Change 120.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced the Government would lower the housing capacity equivalency requirement from at least two million homes that would have been enabled by PC120 (as currently notified) to at least 1.6 million.
The housing capacity equivalency requirement is a planning rule that requires Auckland to zone enough land to allow a minimum number of homes to be built, even if those homes are never actually constructed.
Bishop said the revised figure was the midpoint between the 1.2 million-housing capacity presently enabled by the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP), and the two million that would’ve been enabled by PC120.
He said the change struck a balance between Aucklanders concerned about de-intensification and those who wish to see more growth.
“Going from at least two million to at least 1.6 million does reduce minimum housing capacity by around 20 per cent, but this is in the context of a stronger Plan Change that could see a 20 per cent increase in planned housing turning into real housing,” he said.
Bishop said Auckland had been struggling with an update to the AUP since 2021.
“The new plan will mean more growth around the areas that make the most economic sense and where there is the most support – CRL stations, rapid transit stations, metropolitan centres.
“And it means more flexibility for Auckland around suburban Auckland.”
