Environment Minister David Parker is considering an Auckland Council request to delay planning changes for more intense housing in the city - and his ministry is seeking more information on the post-flooding proposal
An appeal from Auckland Council for a delay over a new law mandating denser housing in the city has been resisted by a panel of planning commissioners, and is now under scrutiny from the Government and environment ministry.
The council wants hearings on aspects of the law, which are under way now, to be put aside until officials can establish how the January and February storms will affect future housing potential in areas across Auckland.
On March 3, council lawyers urged the independent hearing panel - considering submissions from Aucklanders on what is known as Plan Change 78 to the seven-year Auckland Unitary Plan - to defer consideration of 'natural hazards and storm management, and the provision of infrastructure'. The panel declined.
On March 17, the council asked Environment Minister David Parker for a one-year extension to the time he had imposed on it to notify its decisions on whatever the independent panel recommends over any conditions that should be placed on blanket intensified housing provisions.
The panel chair, Greg Hill, says until a ministerial decision to grant, or reject, a time extension, no deferral of its hearings is possible. "This is because unless an extension of time is granted, the deferral of the subject hearings would mean the [panel] is unlikely to be able to complete hearings and formulate recommendations on PC78 within the current time limit set by the minister."
A spokesman for Parker's office told Newsroom the minister had received the council's request and was awaiting advice from the Ministry for the Environment before responding.
Some on the council, including the Mayor Wayne Brown, believe the flood and infrastructure damage after the Auckland Anniversary Weekend storm and Cyclone Gabrielle floods makes it imperative the council rethink building more houses in areas prone to flooding.
Brown told a planning committee hearing three weeks ago rushed decisions under the current planning timeframe could lead to problems.
"It's just unfortunate the Plan Change 78 process has got itself under way - the legislation has been foisted upon us, legislation I'm not at all happy with but that's what governments do when you let them sit in a room in Wellington."
He said if Parker didn't agree to an extension of time for a re-evaluation in light of the floods, then voters might not agree an extension of time for Parker's Labour government at the October election.
It's understood the environment ministry is seeking more information from council officials on the reasons and justification for a delay.
In seeking the deferral from the independent panel, council lawyers said there could be six months of work in officers gathering data on the lessons from the flood events.
The project would research how Auckland communities were impacted by the summer's flooding and landslides, how they are positioned to manage hazards in the future and implications for land use planning and policies.
Officials would recommend potential improvements "so that Auckland and its communities are more resilient to water-related hazards."
"We are advised that, given the diverse and complex nature of the flood and landslide-related data that needs to be sourced, verified and analysed, the evidence-gathering and insights exercise phase of the investigation work is likely to take in the order of six months.
"We are instructed the council's response to the result of the additional work will depend on the nature of the recommendations arising. The council will then be able to identify the most efficient and effective planning process for implementing the planning response," they wrote.
"This could involve a variation to PC78 or a wider plan change to the Auckland Unitary Plan."
Auckland Council's written request to Parker would then give it one further year, from March 31 2024 to March 31 2025 to notify the public of its decisions following the panel's work."
Plan Change 78 arises from a cross-party law from late 2021 when National joined Labour in pushing for sweeping changes to existing plans for the country's major urban areas - and effectively overrode the Auckland Unitary Plan. Agreed in 2016, that plan had in itself made radical provisions for higher building zones and more housing density in the city to cope with 20 to 30 years of growth. It stands criticised for allowing building in flood plains.
