New building on infill in Ruahine St, Dannevirke.
Pic 2: BTG270921RE2 Caption: New building on infill Ruahine Street Dannevirke.
Pic 3: BTG270921RE3 Caption: A new house outside the 100kph limit on Umutaoroa Road Dannevirke.
Pic 4: BTG270921RE4 Caption: Lifestyle blocks for sale on the edge of Woodville.
By Dave Murdoch
With a pronounced inflow of new residents Tararua is struggling to provide accommodation which is leading to an increase in applications for consents to subdivide land and build new homes.
In the last two years resource consent applications have risen from 72 in the 2018/19 year to 101 in 2019/20 and 135 in the 2020/21 year. Already in July there have been a further 18.
Of the 135 applications in 2020/21, 121 were for subdivision requests, a 50 per cent increase on the year before. By location Dannevirke led with 48, then Pahiatua with 35, Woodville with 25 and Eketahuna 13.
By the end of the year the council had processed 91.1 per cent of requests and this July 100 per cent.
At the September 9 TDC meeting councillors, led by councillor Peter Johns, quizzed staff about the Growth Management Strategy which determines where housing and other infrastructure should be built.
The council report said it was in Phase One – Assessment – and was projected to be completed by June 2022. Councillor Johns wanted to know why it was taking so long, given the rapid rise in demand for housing.
CEO Bryan Nicholson said it was vital to get the right information as it was a three-year strategy and the council "needed to get it right". He added that "this strategy's impact will be multi-generational".
Tina Love, group manager of operations, concurred saying "a lot of work branches from this policy".
Group manager of infrastructure Chris Chapman said so many factors influence the decision environmental, economic, cultural and political.
In terms of environment he cited the importance of soil type and landforms when deciding possible subdivisions. The report said a draft liquefaction (when loosely packed, water-logged sediments at or near the ground surface lose their strength in response to strong ground shaking) report had been completed due to be finalised in November and a GNS report on fault mapping and fault avoidance zones was completed.
He said economically, studies into land capacity and suitability and growth forecasts are being carried out.
Chapman said investigations into cultural and historical values and history were being compiled.
He said politically there were a lot of government decisions coming which greatly affected planning of subdivisions including the Three Waters proposal, a massive restructuring of the Resource Management Act and local body frameworks.
Councillor Kerry Sutherland countered saying that growth of housing was happening now and that without a strategy growth was proceeding "unbridled."
Chapman said assessment has shown there is enough infill land within the town boundaries to satisfy housing growth for "the next five to 10 years given the current demand".
Council proposes to remove housing development from future plans due to risk.