June 2016

Palino Pleased National and Labour Support His Policy for Auckland

"Today I feel very pleased that both major political parties have picked up on my policy to remove Auckland City’s Urban Boundaries. This has been my policy for years and is outlined in my book, “A Vision For Auckland”.

It is an important component of my comprehensive strategy to solve the Auckland Housing Crisis and reduce traffic congestion.

"When I confirmed three months ago that, as Mayor, I would remove metropolitan boundary restrictions on Auckland's development, there was no one else advocating this approach.

"Today, we have universal agreement across central government that the boundary must be removed, while bizarrely, Labour’s mayoral candidate Phil Goff remains silent on the issue.

My challenge to Phil is simple. Are you for or against removal of the existing Urban Boundaries? Are you for or against the suburban housing intensification plan set out in Auckland Council’s current Unitary Plan?

What are your specific policy positions on each of these issues?

I have provided a clear policy position in my book so voters can understand what a Palino mayoralty stands for. Phil should be prepared to do the same.

Removal of the Urban Boundaries must be managed within a comprehensive plan for the Auckland City and region and this is set out in my book.

We must plan where and how we're going to get infrastructure in place to support the rapid delivery of homes and jobs.

"I'll identify and zone new priority areas for satellite city development along transport spines - the motorway and railway and extensions of those.

"That will leverage existing infrastructure and limit costs.

"Zoning will be planned around achieving the location of new housing close to areas where businesses will want to locate to and provide jobs. The transport spine will determine where this occurs and we already have in place fledgling satellite CBDs in Henderson, Albany and Manukau. Other potential locations are to the North and South where the transport spine is either already in existence or is easily developed.

My policy will contain urban sprawl without constraining land and house supply.

"We can plan as many of these centres as we need, but we should focus in the short term in a couple of areas where developers are ready and willing to build the tens of thousands of homes we need.

"The fundamental principle underlying my plan is that we reduce travel demand to the CBD and provide jobs out where people live. That means we can reduce congestion pressures and still provide the types of housing people want.

"We can plan a new city from the first brick to the last and avoid the need to retrofit existing communities with density that our infrastructure can't handle.

" The construction and funding of infrastructure is always going to be a real limiting factor on development and we must think outside the square as to how this can be funded. The traditional approach will not work. The current Council is already over its head in debt and rate payers are fed up with the huge rate increases we have seen over the last 6 years so these options are not available.

We must look outside the square on this issue. Options include infrastructure bonds and private equity. There is some limited potential for asset sales but as I have set out in my book, these should be limited to non-strategic assets.

"As mayor, I'll be sitting down with major developers and talking through the options. These may include flexible zoning rules on low cost land in return for delivering infrastructure and thousands of new homes.

"That's how you grow a city and it's how you grow it affordably," said Palino.

For further details on my policies and an electronic copy of my book go to: www.palinoformayor.co.nz

For a video of this press release go to:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4so01fqnxsfttva/JOHN%20PALINO%20MAYOR2.mp4?dl=0

This video is released as a public domain document and may be broadcast without any copyright restrictions.

www.palinoformayor.co.nz

facebook.com/johnpalinoformayor

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