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Auckland Council’s under-pressure water infrastructure arm Watercare has released a map showing restrictions on new connections throughout Auckland, raising alarm about the ability to create new housing supply.
Watercare said the map was to give greater clarity to developers about capacity constraints in the water and wastewater networks to supportnew housing.
On the Hibiscus Coast anyone without resource consent may have to wait until 2031 for a wastewater connection.
The map Watercare released this month showing restricted areas. Image / Watercare
The Army Bay treatment plant upgrade is not expected to be completed until 2031.
Priyan Perera, Watercare chief strategy officer, said while the company could support growth in most parts of Auckland, some areas are not so straightforward.
“Our infrastructure programme aligns with Auckland Council’s future development strategy and will see us investing $13.7b in water and wastewater infrastructure in the next decade, which includes $6.8 billion in projects to support housing growth.
Watercare has released a map showing Auckland's constraints for new housing connections. Photo / Ben Plummer
Restricted areas were shown in grey and orange and stretch from Warkworth to Waiwera, the Hibiscus Coast, through to Birkdale, Ōtara and Papatoetoe down to Waiuku.
Andrew Crosby of Xpect Property Development expressed disappointment at the map.
“Everyone says [build] affordable housing but the reality on the ground is, ‘nah mate, pipe not big enough, sorry about the zoning making you think otherwise, we had some plans but had to bin them, so see you in 2040. Have a nice day and here is our invoice’,” Crosby wrote.
He said the release of the map showing areas with constraints revealed a far bigger issue than anyone thought previously.
Others have raised the council’s plan to increase development contributions from next year, saying that is a huge issue which will also result in planned housing either taking longer to build than expected or plans being axed.
A Fletcher Building chief opposes the fee rise of up to 289%. Steve Evans, Fletcher’s residential and development chief executive, said the proposed development contribution policy 2025 could result in some new housing schemes being postponed or cancelled because they would be too expensive.
The council fees could make building homes uneconomic, right at a time when the Government wants more homes built here.
In the northwest, this is a 289% proposed increase, at Tāmaki a 282% increase and overall for Auckland the average proposed increase is from $21,000 to $50,000/house, Evans says.
“Developers are a good target for a council under financial pressure,” said Evans, who heads the division with 23 development sites in Auckland and Christchurch.
In July the Herald reported how Watercare had pulled its plans to build a $400 million wastewater treatment plant in a small rural community on the Manukau Harbour.
It withdrew its notice of requirement to designate land in Glenbrook Beach Rd for wastewater treatment purposes.
Watercare is already trucking sewage from a number of new Auckland housing developments where no connections have been made yet.
Sewage from 300 new homes in West Auckland was going into holding tanks and then trucked to a wastewater pump station because there was no permanent wastewater infrastructure, the Herald has reported.
At Cardinal West, a 470-home development on a former dairy farm at Red Hills, tankers have been making about 90 trips a week since 2022 to remove sewage from 300 homes to the Massey North wastewater pump station.
Watercare said the practice would start at Warkworth Ridge for 646 homes from October this year, followed by Kahawai Point at Glenbrook Beach for 800 coastal homes from August 2025, and the 50ha Clarks Beach Waterfront Estate from May 2026.
in April, Watercase said it might need to increase bills by up to 25.8% from July, but that potential price rise did not eventuate, and instead prices went up by 7.2% on July 1.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
