Councils battle to ensure building quality

The Auckland region is seeing two distinct styles as councils battle to control shoddy housing and apartment developments and insist on quality.

Auckland City has put a stake in the ground with rules to stop ugly developments and environmental damage caused by years of weak planning.

In the south, Manukau City is going even further, at least in Flat Bush - the last greenfield site in the region and soon to become a new town of 40,000 people.

The council owns the 18ha of paddocks destined to be the new town centre, which means it has an unprecedented chance to set the rules about what will go where and how it will work.

Manukau is setting up a council-controlled organisation to run the development. It will have a board of five directors, now in the process of being appointed by the council.

The land the council owns at Flat Bush will be transferred to the new body, which should be up and running by the end of the year.

The council says it did not feel that undertaking the role itself was the best solution, given the need for specialist skills in commercial property and urban development.

It expects the new body to make a profit and operate according to sound business principles.

However, there is some unease at the council taking such a development role. One councillor, Dick Quax, has criticised the council for risking ratepayers' money on the project.

The council-controlled organisation will be able to:

* Oversee the infrastructure development for the town centre (roads, services etc).

* Lease and buy land.

* Enter into joint ventures and profit sharing - including with the private sector - and also borrow and invest.

* Plan and design and enable various facilities to be established, including civic areas and amenities.

* Employ staff and consultants, establish the town centre's management and report to the city council.

The Manukau council maintains that it has established policies and practices for dealing with potential conflicts of interests in terms of its role as a regulator.

Planning for Flat Bush started as long ago as 1997. Work on the first buildings in the town centre is expected to start in late 2006, or early 2007. The area will be developed over 10 years or so as the population in the surrounding area expands.

Manukau City also owns another property in Papatoetoe, the site of the old St George Tavern near the railway line in old Papatoetoe, where it plans to develop well-designed intensive housing.