August - September 2020
Big steps forward for Urban Growth Agenda The infrastructure industry has gone through a blizzard of policy change, with five key bills landing in the final two weeks of the current parliamentary term
T
he Government’s Urban Growth Agenda was designed to address the fundamentals of land supply, development capacity and enabling infrastructure. The five pillars of focus are: 1. Infrastructure funding and financing; 2. Urban planning; 3. Spatial planning; 4. Transport pricing; and 5. Legislative reform. The Infrastructure Funding & Financing Bill enables developers to work with
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infrastructurenews.co.nz
the Crown to accelerate the provision of infrastructure in areas where the local council is unwilling or unable to provide the necessary pipes, roads and community infrastructure to enable land to be released for housing and businesses. The National Policy Statement on Urban Development (2020) requires councils (especially growth councils) to provide much more dynamic capacity for urban growth. In our larger/higher
growth areas it creates intensification (notably allowing buildings up to six stories within walking distance of rapid transit stops), removes car parking requirements and for all councils it requires planning changes to respond to Te Tiriti of Waitangi, housing affordability, community amenity and wellbeing and a pro-development stance. Tony Randerson QC, led an independent panel which has recommended sweeping reforms, includ-
ing repeal of the Resource Management Act. The Randerson panel recommends replacing the RMA with a Natural & Built Environment Act and a Strategic Planning Act, with a critical change being the move away from a negative focus on ‘effects’ towards a more positive planning approach aiming to achieve broader wellbeing outcomes. Randerson also recommends the creation of a sepearte Managed Re-
