Mayors of Queenstown and Auckland team up to fight fast-track developments

The mayors of Queenstown and Auckland have teamed up to pressure Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop for a pause on fast-tracking greenfield housing developments.

Outrage is growing over a series of planned or approved large-scale developments in the fast-track process.

Yesterday, the Delmore development near Ōrewa was given the green light, a move Auckland’s Wayne Brown called “amateur, pathetic and stupid”.

The Herald also revealed an exchange of letters between the Delmore developer and Brown, which the mayor described as “threatening and disturbing”.

Now, Brown and Queenstown Mayor John Glover have penned a letter to Bishop asking for an “immediate pause” on future fast-tracking of such developments.

Arrowtown residents are rallying against a proposal to build 1210 houses and a commercial precinct between Lake Hayes and the Kawarau River.

“The unchecked use of the fast-track system to force tens of thousands of houses into rural areas with limited public infrastructure is not helpful for addressing these challenges and will in fact make them slightly worse,” Brown and Glover say in the letter.

“Accelerating greenfield housing development in places that are not infrastructure-ready only causes congestion, service constraints, higher long-term costs and community unrest, as we have seen across Queenstown and Auckland.

“If the tens of thousands of houses proposed for our cities through the fast-track process are all consented, they will make a rapidly deteriorating situation in places like the Whakatipu Basin and the northwest of Auckland much worse.”

Brown told the Herald that Queenstown authorities had approached him after seeing him speak out publicly against projects in Auckland.

“It’s not surprising that the Mayor of Queenstown’s joining me in letters saying how bad fast-track is,” Brown said.

“I imagine that within another month or two, there’ll be at least six mayors of other parts of the country who will come to me and say, there’s something wrong with fast-track, because it’s not about fast-track.

“There’s nothing faster than waiting eight years. That’s stupid track. Fast-track where they get underway straight away is a great idea. If they get approval and the Government said you’ve got to start in six weeks, that’s fine. But these projects are neither shovel-ready nor wallet-ready.”

The letter goes on to say: “Auckland Council analysis indicates that, if even the handful of current fast-tracked greenfield housing projects across the region proceed, ratepayers could effectively end up subsidising their infrastructure costs by up to $1.5 billion, if not more.”

“It is particularly galling because the Government has yet to provide councils with the long-promised suite of tools to help share the costs of growth fairly.”

Queenstown Lakes District Council Mayor John Glover. Photo / Queenstown Lakes District Council

The mayors make it clear they are not opposed to fast-track or greenfield developments.

“But when Wellington forces our ratepayers (and taxpayers) to subsidise development in the wrong places, the only real winner is the developer who avoids paying the true costs of growth.

“We need to focus on smart growth that is supported by good infrastructure, which is why we are requesting a pause on fast-tracking greenfield housing developments for the foreseeable future.”

In response to Brown’s criticisms, Bishop said: “One of the reasons why it’s going to take a long time is that there are a whole range of infrastructure conditions that have to be complied with and built out before building can happen and before it, happens in a staged way.

“The mayor and I disagree on the green-fields fast-track stuff. I will say he’s just written to me about, about the issue and I’m going to have a bit more to say, not today, but in the next couple of days around some changes that we are looking to make around infrastructure fast-track projects.

“I don’t agree with all of it, but I acknowledge the point he’s making and he does, he does have a point around that.”

Delmore was the 30th fast-track project to be approved under the regime, about half of which are housing developments.

Residents in other parts of the country are also upset about fast-track developments, including in Waimauku West.

Katie Bradford is a Senior Correspondent at the Herald. She has been a broadcast journalist for over 20 years and was based in the press gallery for 10 years. She specialises in politics, business and Auckland issues.