Fletcher wants fresh look at $325m scheme

Auckland Council member Christine Fletcher refuses to endorse the region's biggest economic growth project, calling for fresh scrutiny of the public money offered to lure developers.

The former Auckland City mayor said that for "such a gigantic sum" she expected detailed financial and business-case information to be available on the $325 million Northern Strategic Growth Area project.

The project includes a Massey North Town Centre at the end of the Northwestern Motorway and using 20ha of the former Hobsonville airbase for a marine industry cluster.

It is the brainchild of the former Waitakere City Council.

Mrs Fletcher said she was unimpressed by the way that council operated and the $452 million of debt it had flicked on to the Super City on November 1.

"Also, I'm concerned that the scale of the marine project and the huge risks we are consigning to ratepayers in the future.

"The sector is notoriously fickle."

On Wednesday, the council's future vision committee voted to "endorse in principle" the northern project and four other economic transformation projects - at New Lynn, Flat Bush, Tamaki and Silverdale.

The five projects total $959 million of public spending.

Part of the Hobsonville Pt development, plans for the 20ha marine cluster feature 84,000sq m of boatbuilding sheds, a slipway for super yachts, 13,600sq m of retail and mixed-use space and creation of 2000 jobs.

Mrs Fletcher said she did not want to be seen as giving authority to proceed to a project that begged proper scrutiny.

"We are all looking for a project that is going to save us but it is not stacking up for me."

Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse, who held the same role at Waitakere City, said the council had legal contracts for projects that committed the council to providing infrastructure.

"If we now go wobbly, we send a message out to the development community in areas where bulldozers are as we speak and developers are pouring a serious slug of investment.

"If we suddenly put out slightly airy-fairy in-principle recommendations, if I were a developer investing in this fantastic region I'd be reaching for my lawyer."

Ann Hartley said boat builders were crying out for the Hobsonville development because they were hampered by the lack of a deepwater slipway for launching vessels.

George Wood sought an assurance that councillors would get a detailed report for each project on costs and the contributions to be made by developers before the long-term budget was fixed.

However, the Massey North Town Centre project had already had up to five years of scrutiny, said Vanessa Neeson, a former Waitakere city councillor who is chairman of Henderson-Massey Local Board. "I'm concerned about that attitude when developments are well underway, contracts signed and holes in the ground."