Property and infrastructure industry bosses are calling for certainty over Auckland’s planning rules as the Govenrment scales back the controversial plan to allow for two million homes.
“There needs to be absolute clarity for the development sectors, and that applies to the infrastructure sector as well,” Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett said.
Property Council chief executive Leonie Freeman said the development community needs a stable and predictable planning framework, and frequent shifts risk undermining confidence in Auckland’s growth strategy.
Last month, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced the Government would water down the densification rules, with Bishop saying the Government is weighing a range of options for the housing‑capacity targets.
Bishop’s solution is expected to focus intensification on the central city, City Rail Link (CRL) train stations and other main transport corridors, pull back from the suburbs and contain a lower housing target.
Bishop told the Herald that he is carefully working through any changes to Plan Change 120 (PC120), which allows capacity for two million houses over the coming decades, but no Cabinet decisions have been made.
“I don’t intend to comment in advance of those decisions other than to say it is legally complicated,” Bishop said, adding that a decision was a few weeks away.
Council chief executive Phil Wilson told the Herald he was concerned about the impact on the development sector from two major planning processes running in parallel – PC120 and the Government’s Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms.
He was worried about the level of change and uncertainty for the development sector if Auckland’s planning rules were not clarified soon.
“Ultimately, what the development sector wants is reasonable investment certainty, to know what the rules are so they can make informed decisions around their development investments. There is a concern that protracted uncertainty is unhelpful,” Wilson said.
Retired Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook has warned that the Government’s RMA reforms cut across PC120.
Newhook said PC120 was “arguably the biggest and most complex planning instrument” since the Auckland Unitary Plan, yet it was released only weeks before the Government unveiled its RMA reforms.
Those reforms required a new, 30‑year regional spatial plan, exactly the kind of structured, evidence‑based process he said PC120 lacks. Pressing ahead now, he argued, was simply “the cart before the horse”.
Leggett disagreed with Newhook, saying Auckland needs to intensify and waiting five years for the new, perfect resource management legislation was too long.
“There has to be a local plan that meets the need of Aucklanders and future Aucklanders in place as soon as possible,” he said.
“The Government is very focused on unlocking growth in key areas of the country, and we would have expected that to be anticipated in the RMA reforms so there won’t be any drag on Auckland’s ability to grow.
Freeman said certainty at the local level is especially important while the wider resource management system is in transition, with the Planning and Natural Environment Bills (that replace the RMA) going through Parliament.
She said any adjustment to the two-million-house figure should ensure housing supply across Auckland remains sufficient to meet demand.
“The development community needs a stable and predictable planning framework. Clear guidance will support investor confidence and keep housing delivery on track,” Freeman said.
Two major property developers in Auckland declined to talk to the Herald about the impact of the new planning rules.
Mayor Wayne Brown and Wilson said the Government has to be careful when making changes to the planning rules, which could see the process go back to square one.
That would drag out the Government’s intensification plans for Auckland, which date back to 2021 when the Labour Government, with National’s support, introduced the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS). These rules allowed up to three dwellings, three storeys high, on most residential sections in Auckland, a policy widely known as the “3x3″ rule.
The council introduced Plan Change 78 in 2022 to implement the MDRS, but scrapped it last year after agreeing to Bishop’s alternative approach, which focuses on intensification along transport corridors while still providing capacity for the same number of homes, estimated at two million.
That decision paved the way for PC120, introduced last October, which also restricts development on about 12,000 properties identified as being at risk from flooding or landslides.
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