Viewpoint – Intensification in the right places

For many years, the Auckland region has grappled with where future housing should go and how best to accommodate growth. As communities north of Auckland have experienced, particularly after this year’s severe weather events, there is also a pressing need to better manage natural hazards such as flooding, land instability and severe storms as part of the region’s future planning.

The floods that overwhelmed places like Kāeo and the Far North, along with the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, have provided important lessons about how we manage natural hazards in a changing climate. We now have clearer and more accessible information to help communities understand the risks they face and make better-informed decisions.

We are strengthening planning rules to better protect people and property – by limiting development in higher-risk areas and making sure new homes are built to be more resilient to future events.

Our Making Space for Water programme is also delivering targeted infrastructure upgrades in high-risk locations and public hazard maps to increase awareness or risks associated with specific properties. This approach will strengthen the region’s resilience as we consider where future growth should go.

Which brings me to Auckland Council’s Policy, Planning and Development Committee, which recently agreed to send two options for future housing intensification – Scenarios A and B – to local boards and iwi for feedback. While this might seem far removed from communities outside the immediate city boundaries, it’s important to understand the work underway to carefully manage the region’s future infrastructure needs.

Scenario A would do the legal minimum. Scenario B would allow housing intensification around inner eastern and southern train stations, main bus routes into the city, and local town centres.

On July 21, the committee will decide which option should proceed. It should be Scenario B.

I’ve always said Auckland needs to grow, but it must grow in the right places. That means putting more homes where people have access to good transport, jobs, shops and services. It means making the most of the enormous investment Aucklanders have already made in infrastructure like the City Rail Link, and it means stopping endless sprawl.

To be clear, Scenario B is not a radical proposal. In fact, the large majority of suburban Auckland would see no change from the current Auckland Unitary Plan. Scenario B removes earlier PC120 proposals relating to some of the less suitable outer suburban bus routes. What remains is a targeted approach that aligns housing growth with transport investment. Outer suburban areas do not need the same level of intensification as the inner parts of the city.

What Scenario B does do is focus additional growth in the places where it makes the most sense, while 85 per cent of Auckland would remain unchanged under the Unitary Plan. Stations such as Ellerslie, Greenlane, Meadowbank, Orakei, and Newmarket will all benefit significantly from the City Rail Link when it opens. Many of these locations will be just 10 to 15 minutes from the city centre by train. These areas are currently included in Scenario B.

If we were to adopt Scenario A, we would be saying no to many of these opportunities. We would be limiting growth to train stations on the Western Line and rejecting sensible intensification along major transport corridors. That makes no sense.

We would also miss opportunities for carefully planned growth in town centres that already have services and amenities in place.

The consequence is straightforward: we would end up with less intensification in the places where it works best.