That would create room to build 2000-2500 new homes in the future as well as a new commercial and industrial area across about 470ha.
The land is currently made up of orchards and other growing land and zoned Plains Production, which protects it from being developed.
According to the proposal, there would also be enough space to potentially relocate Hawke’s Bay Hospital or Hastings Racecourse on to the land if the project went ahead.
Pressure group Save Our Plains, which aims to protect growing land in Heretaunga from development, has already voiced its disdain at the proposal, which it says is “preposterous” due to the significant loss of fertile soil if it went ahead.
Hawke’s Bay developer David Colville is behind the project and the sole director of Heretaunga Connection Project.
Colville said the region needed to think bigger when it came to planning for housing growth, or risk “repeating the pattern of failure” that has compounded the housing crisis in Hawke’s Bay.
His proposal stated having a “piecemeal approach” for “tacking on” sites for future development was not the way to go and the large-scale project had a lot of merit.
However, to date, the ambitious proposal has struggled to gain traction.
It did not make the cut for the Government’s fast-track projects announced last year and, at this stage, it has been left out of the draft Napier-Hastings Future Development Strategy (FDS).
Hastings District Council assessed the proposal and opted not to include it in that draft FDS for reasons including that it rated poorly for protecting productive land and promoting a compact urban form.
The proposed layout for the ambitious project. Photo / HDC
The proposal will go before an independent panel at the end of this month, which has the power to recommend a proposal be added into the FDS, despite not receiving council backing.
The FDS sets out sections of land around Napier and Hastings that are deemed suitable for development over the next 30 years to meet growth.
Councils will have the final say on whether to include a section of land in the final FDS document, to be adopted around June.
Colville said there was not enough land earmarked for development to meet the region’s high housing demand.
If changes were not made, the FDS would “fail spectacularly”, he said.
Colville pointed to the Housing Register, which had a wait list of 582 applicants (one applicant can be an entire family) in the Hastings district in need of a public home as at December.
As for protecting fertile soil, he said there was a difference between fertile and productive land, as not all fertile land can be used for growing purposes (such as an apple orchard) because small land holdings were not attractive to commercial growers.
The 470ha of land in the proposal is owned by a list of different landowners.
Colville said roughly 60% were supportive of selling their land to Heretaunga Connection Project, and many of them were under contract, if the proposal eventually gained approval.
Save Our Plains spokesman Richard Gaddum said the project was a “ridiculous suggestion”.
He said it would erase almost 500ha of some of the best soil on the Heretaunga Plains, with the majority of the land in question being LUC Class 1 and LUC Class 2 soil.
He said the growing industry was a major driver of the regional economy.
“To take out that amount of land is just preposterous. We are furious,” he said.
“On our watch, it is not going to happen.”
Four other significant proposals to be considered by the FDS independent panel:
Proposal for a 33ha piece of land at 334 SH51 to be earmarked for industrial use in the future, as an extension to the Whakatū industrial area. It is currently zoned Plains Production. That plan has been submitted by Mr Apple.
Proposal for the former Te Mata Mushrooms site on Brookvale Rd to be deemed suitable for residential development in the future, as an extension to Havelock North. It is currently zoned Plains Production. That plan has been submitted by Vermont St Partners No 4.
Proposal for land to the north of the Irongate industrial area in Hastings to be deemed suitable for industrial use in the future. That plan has been submitted by the relevant landowners. The Irongate industrial area can be extended south, but not north, under the current draft FDS.
Proposal for a 45ha site at 198 Willowbank Ave, Meeanee (near Te Awa) to be deemed suitable for residential development in the future. It is currently zoned Main Rural. That plan has been submitted by Meeanee Developments.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
