Growth could push up costs

Stuart Crosby says Auckland's housing crisis could result in collateral damage for Tauranga.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby fears the city could end up with "collateral damage" from a government-ordered inquiry to improve how councils regulate land use, planning and development.

The inquiry by the Productivity Commission expands on its housing affordability report which identified constraints on land supply as a major driver of housing affordability problems.

Commission chairman Murray Sherwin said the new inquiry would delve deeper into how councils made decisions on opening up land for development.

It would also look at how councils increased the capacity for housing in built-up areas through subdivision and intensive development rules.

Mr Crosby said the inquiry was driven by Auckland's housing crisis and could result in collateral damage for Tauranga.

"Fixing Auckland could create other problems here."

His comments followed a council meeting yesterday which agreed to adopt a prioritised list of growth and growth management risks facing Tauranga.

One of the high risk areas identified by council staff was central government legislation that required growth areas such as Tauranga to release more land for development and to then service the land.

Mr Crosby said there were rumours the Government might be considering privatising land use consenting as part of changes to the Resource Management Act.

He said said the last time a government privatised something [building inspection services] the country ended up with leaky homes.

Yesterday's meeting of the finance and risk committee backed the growth risks report which warned that growth in areas not anticipated for development may result in pressure on another high risk area - funding the Southern Pipeline.

Development in areas not serviced by the pipeline could push up development contributions to help pay for the pipeline, resulting in the commercial viability of developments being compromised.

Growth could push up costsWhat Tauranga is doing to reduce the likelihood of growth risks
• Monitoring growth to identify issues early.
• Relationships with developers and the NZ Transport Agency.
• Discussion forums such as SmartGrowth.
• SmartGrowth supporting structures.
• Advocating issues nationally.