Growth – A new direction

Until now, the emphasis has been on how to accommodate growth for the Warkworth urban area.

Government and Auckland Council want to see it developed as an urban growth centre, which has sparked developers to undertake new housing areas in and around the current Urban and Future Urban zonings, even though the infrastructure is not ready to accommodate such growth.

It is time to look more closely at how Warkworth’s growth fits with the wider Auckland region. At the recent opening of wastewater treatment plant, the Mayor stated that the plant would service 18,000 people in the fast growing Warkworth and Mahurangi region. It was also stated that Warkworth has always been destined to be a satellite city in the Auckland region!

The local community prefers that it remain as a rural/urban service centre and does not become a commuting suburb for Auckland and employment centres to the south. It is not appropriate for it to be considered like Pukekohe for more intensive development.

Furthermore, the wishes of the local communities should be given much more consideration. They understand what is required (Mayor’s comment “locals know local”) and what the capacity of the area is, and should be, to accommodate the most appropriate form of development that respects the local environment.

The community wants better management of new development with all its inherent infrastructure and services in place at the appropriate time – not having housing developed in indecent haste just to meet a perceived demand without the essential services being readily available. There are very real financial constraints to the provision of all community, recreational and educational facilities and infrastructure to be implemented in the expected timeframe.

The best example of our community led planning process is the development of a Warkworth Town Centre Plan being promoted by MCPG’s team of professionals. At this stage, it has focused on preparing a development concept for key sites around the bowling club land. This is designed to form a more appropriate hub for the centre in this most critical location.

MCPG has requested Rodney Local Board to promote it so that the plan can be prepared at limited cost to the board and ratepayers. To put this request into perspective, the board spent over $100,000 on the previous Town Centre Study, which in essence was just a landscaping exercise. It did not address the key issues of new commercial development, increased parking, better traffic circulation and improved community facilities. All these will have to be provided to accommodate future growth.

It is essential that the new board supports it and council funds such community led planning to ensure that the centre is properly developed to meet the demands on it created by the proposed growth.