Rural residents south of Auckland angry at council’s ‘flip-flop’ on development

By Finn Blackwell of RNZ

Locals in rural parts south of Auckland city are angry the council wants to shift the goalposts on how the area is developed.

The region is forecast to see thousands of new homes over the next 30 years.

Residents from areas including Papakura, Takanini and Drury expected these homes to be built on greenfields, rejecting the council’s plan to instead go for intensification.

Things got heated at a packed Papakura Local Board meeting on Tuesday as the community rejected what they said was the council’s “flip-flop” on development.

Many have money tied up in greenfields which they expected would be used for development, but the council plans to rezone the land back to rural.

They said the council’s Future Development Strategy was not right for the future of the area.

Manurewa-Papakura Ward councillor Daniel Newman admitted the plan was a hard sell.

“It’s confronting because it brings together many different interests, not all of which are complimentary,” he said.

“There are some very divergent views and this is going to be very tough because people obviously have a motivation to be able to capitalise their land, and there are propositions on the table that would make that difficult.”

The strategy recommends building most new housing in existing suburbs, and delaying or stopping work on some undeveloped land to reduce emissions and avoid high infrastructure costs.

Newman said any kind of development would need careful consideration.

“It’s a very high test to ensure that the best development occurs that we can sustain in the future, because there are big environmental considerations, infrastructure gaps that need to be addressed, a way forward for funding it and to ensure that that can be balanced out, so that we can meet the needs of our current communities as well as future communities.”

But locals were not trusting the process. Resident Yvonne Pollington said the council needed to improve communication.

“Council need to be on [side] with government, who needs to be on [side] with transport, they actually have to get together and make these plans together because currently they’re not.”

Councillor Daniel Newman addressing a Papakura Local Board meeting on the Future Development Strategy. Photo / RNZ

Pollington said her area needed development, and council had not provided the assurances she was after.

“I’ve been where I am for 17 years, my parents have been for 38, we’ve had a lot of reasonings over that time which just kind of happen, but basically it’s a 30-year plan and we’re seven years on, and they’ve decided that it’s time to change it up again,” she said.

Another resident, Raj Sandhu, said the zoning changes had direct financial implications for him and his family.

“When we bought the property last year we bought it on a valuation based on the future urban projection of the property,” he said.

“Now, with the council throwing a spanner at the zoning, and it’s going to go back to rural [zoning], that’s personally going to affect my pocket.”

Sandhu said the council had not got to the core of the issue.

“The emotional and the financial impact to each and every individual family hasn’t been addressed, so hopefully, in future meetings, that will be addressed and council will take a view on that.”

Public consultation on the Future Development Strategy closes at the end of next month.