Brian Kelly: What will happen in Tauriko?

A submission was put to city councillors on Tuesday by local property developer and former National MP Bob "the builder Clarkson", which I found to be rather interesting and timely.

Bob Clarkson's plan is to build a thousand fixed-price affordable homes on land he owns between the Wairoa River and State highway 29 at Tauriko. Bob's idea was for a complete home and land package for $280,000 which, according to Bob, was about $120,000 less than you would pay at the moment for a three-bedroom brick home with double garage on 400sq/m of land. Sounds too good to be true.

But it is.

Mr Clarkson has asked for the council to approve the concept so he can go ahead and embark on the planning process. He needs to lodge a private planning change for the city portion of his 210ha rural block on Redwood lane although most of the land is in the Western Bay of Plenty Council's jurisdiction.

He certainly met with some interesting reaction from councillors, with Murray Guy calling it "Bob's Kingdom" and Catherine Stewart asking Clarkson how he would prevent speculators cashing in on the cheap houses.

That is a very good question as were many that Mr Clarkson confronted.

I guess on paper the idea is a sound one, but it does raise quite a few issues that the council needs to work through very carefully.

The thought of a thousand "budget" houses in one block is reminiscent of the state house boom in the 1960s when the Government bought up large blocks of land all over New Zealand and built affordable housing. There were a couple of areas in Tauranga, one being in Merrivale. It is all very good at the time but as the years go by the whole area becomes very run down. Is the same thing going to happen in Tauriko?

The houses that were built then were pretty much identical and on a $280,000 budget I fear that Bob the builder's project would see a similar concept. You don't get much for that amount of money and that includes the land.

One of the council's concerns was the ramifications and flow on effect where other developers would want the same deal. If Mr Clarkson was granted approval for the project would there be a rush from other land owners to do a similar thing. The council needs to tread very carefully with this one for a number of reasons.

The proposal though is very timely, given the latest news that there is a dire shortage of rental accommodation in the city and not just in Tauranga.

I read with interest a story in the media during the week on the growing gap between rich and poor that has made one sixth of Aucklanders tenants in their own country.

The number Aucklanders who own their own homes has declined from 74 per cent in the 1986 census to 58.7 per cent last year, according to Statistics New Zealand's household economic survey. No doubt the figures would be proportionately similar in the Bay, considering we are one of the fastest growing areas in the country.

Prime Minister John Key made an interesting statement two year ago. When Chinese investors were first sniffing round to buy the Craffar Farms, he said that he would "hate to see New Zealanders as tenants in their own country".

Um, what's happening now Mr Key? There is no doubt it is becoming harder to own your own home and I feel for young married couples starting out.

A recent Productivity Commission report shows that nationally the price of a home has risen from about 2 times the average after tax household income in the 1980s to about five times today.

Mr Clarkson, your idea has merit but the council needs to work through it very carefully. We don't want 1000 tin sheds.