Property Institute rejects call for Auckland Urban Authority

Property Institute of New Zealand Chief Executive, Ashley Church, is urging the Government to exercise caution before setting up an ‘Urban Development Authority’ for Auckland and is warning that the creation of such an authority could potentially make matters worse for the city.

Earlier this week the Government-appointed Productivity Commission delivered a draft report entitled ‘Using Land for Housing’ which contained a range of proposals including the establishment of an Urban Development Authority with the power to acquire private land for large-scale housing developments. The report also contained 37 other proposals including tolls and congestion charges as a mechanism by which to help fund infrastructure development.

Finance Minister Bill English has welcomed the report and has stated that ‘all proposals are up for consideration’.

However, Mr Church has questioned the need for yet another body and has suggested that a new Authority would simply be ‘stepping on the feet’ of the Auckland Council.

“Isn’t this why the Super City was set up? Didn’t it incorporate the powers of a range of other Authorities so that it could coordinate planning and infrastructure development across the Auckland region”?

Mr Church says that, if anything, the Super City provides a stark example of why a single Authority isn’t the solution for Auckland.

“If the creation of a single Authority was the answer to the housing problem Auckland would now be well on the way to solving its housing issues”.

Instead, Mr Church said that it hadn’t gone unnoticed that this property boom – the first since the creation of the Super City – was taking much longer to resolve than any previous boom since at least the early 70s.

“To be fair – that’s not all the fault of the Auckland Council. It’s also the result of strong migration and a strong economy. But I don’t think anyone gets the sense that Auckland Council ‘has matters under control’ – so the last thing the City needs is a new ’Soviet style’, central planning agency”.

Mr Church says that there is some irony in the fact that the multi-city structure of Auckland, prior to the creation of the Super City, would probably have been much better equipped to handle the current housing problem.

“Under the old structure cities competed with each other for residential development and investment – so, by now, you would have expected to have seen areas throughout the isthmus opened up for commercial and residential development in a way which would also have encouraged private investment at a local level”.

Mr Church also repeated an earlier warning that there were already too many organisations, with contradictory interests, already active in Auckland.

“We already have the Reserve Bank, the Government and the Council – all working in contradiction to each other and skewing the housing market in Auckland. The introduction of yet another agency would just make that situation even worse”

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