Too big - a city out of control

People who have escaped beyond the city limits are also having to fight to keep urban Auckland at bay.

Auckland is bursting at the seams, and the brake designed to stop the city's urban sprawl appears to be failing.

New Zealand's biggest city is spilling on to bare land faster than predicted.

Councils are struggling to direct development on to sites earmarked for it, but landowners and developers want to build or subdivide land not zoned for it.

People who have escaped beyond the city limits are also having to fight to keep urban Auckland at bay.

The much-trumpeted Regional Growth Strategy, seen as a solution to Auckland's rapid growth and signed by all Auckland councils five years ago, has not achieved the high-density housing levels it was intended to produce.

The strategy is a 50-year plan for the city's expansion.

The population of the Greater Auckland region is expected to rise from 1.2 million in 2001 to 2.3 million by 2046.

The Auckland Regional Council is in charge of the growth strategy and is struggling to persuade councils and landowners to abide by it.

The Papakura District Council was prepared to bow to residents' demands and allow bigger sections for a high-quality subdivision on the Hingaia Peninsula on the Pahurehure Inlet.

But the ARC has lodged a submission to the Environment Court seeking smaller section sizes and to increase the area allotted for intensive housing.

Homeowners on the peninsula are worried suburban squeeze will spoil their $1 million-plus homes that usually come with at least a hectare of land.

"Our concern is that the ARC is involved in this and we know what they're trying to do - smaller and smaller sections everywhere," says Hingaia resident Terry Harris.

ARC strategic policy committee chairman Paul Walbran said some high-density housing developments had turned people off.

But the council had to try to keep growth within the city limits.

"If Auckland just kept on going with the quarter-acre section, we are going to be urbanised from Whangarei to Hamilton and who wants that?" he said.

 

The ARC's last growth strategy progress report, in August last year, found Auckland could have less than 15 years of "household capacity".

The Herald understands that an update due early next year is likely to reduce this figure.

"The concern is that we're heading towards the lower end of predictions for remaining household capacity and we don't want to get down to five years as Sydney did," said ARC regional development manager Noel Reardon.

Auckland was making a "culture change" to higher-density urban living, but it could not happen overnight, he said.

The council could only provide "statutory incentives" to ensure development in designated areas.

Mr Reardon would not say what those incentives might be.

But Auckland City Council planner Penny Pirrit said the only way councils could ensure development happened was by buying land on the open market.

BIG PLANS

Hingaia Peninsula, Papakura: up to 2000 homes and about 13,000 people in 20 years.

Waimauku: 2300 houses on 450ha of farmland.

Puhoi: 63-unit development on historic village border.

Waitakere City: Demand for 144 extra lots in Waitakere Ranges foothills.