Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Sacha,
Discussion of the 'housing accord' on TransportBlog. Looks like 'high-rise' in the announcement means anything over 6 storeys. Or 3.
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Interim deal with Auckland council prioritises sprawl to get extra housing in next few years. This pleases the govt.
The legislation, to be introduced to Parliament as part of Budget 2013, will enable Special Housing Areas to be created by the Auckland Council with approval of Government. In these areas it will be possible to override restrictions on housing put in place by Auckland’s eight predecessor Councils, like the Metropolitan Urban Limit.
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The streamlined process will not be available for high rise developments that will need to be considered under existing rules until the Unitary Plan has been finalised in 2016.
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It is about getting on and building the least contentious 39,000 houses of the 400,000 identified in the draft Unitary Plan
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to BenWilson,
most of our productive economy is in the farming sector
Not
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Matthew Poole,
That's just residential property, never mind property that supports the revenue-generating economy
One of the big barriers to acting strongly to correct our economy's imbalance towards housing 'investment' is that many small businesses are secured against the owner's home.
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to FletcherB,
ooh, do write some of the questions here while they're fresh in your mind.
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Matthew Poole,
For sure. And we have Bob Harvey and others to thank for persevering with Cullen.
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Tom Semmens,
mayor with a Labour/Green government in office
I really look forward to that. Cullen held up rail network investment last time Labour were in govt, for instance, but I don't see that happening with the Greens to keep them honest about priorities. Imagine what can be delivered with a constructive partnership between central and local government.
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Russell Brown,
What would be the practical effect of not "endorsing" the municipal position to which he's seeking election? What could he actually change?
Persuading an incoming Labour/Greens government to change some details I guess. Wonder which of the candidates seems most likely able to do that?
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Minto standing will clarify some choices for voters, mainly for the next national election, but is unlikely to cause much of a problem for anyone else. He has been eloquent and sensible on tvnz Q&A appearances lately, but it's not enough. Good luck to him.
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Kumara Republic,
regional development and a more even population spread around the country
Counter to worldwide trends. People like having the services, attractions - and others they relate to closely - that only major cities seem to offer. Auckland attracting most of NZ's future growth is not some planner's fantasy.