Growing well on the Kāpiti Coast

Elspeth McIntyre, Senior Communications Advisor and Engagement, Kāpiti Coast Council

The Kāpiti Coast is rapidly shaking off its image of a string of sleepy seaside villages full of baches and retirement homes, and mellow cousin to the more sophisticated metropolitan Wellington.

Improved transport networks now make it a comfortable one-hour rail commute to the Capital. The Transmission Gully expressway from Wellington will open the district up to further growth. But for at least three decades, people have been arriving in growing numbers for the beautiful beaches, warmer and calmer climate, and family-friendly atmosphere.

It’s now among New Zealand’s fastest growing regions. The population increased by 23,000 over the past 30 years to 57,000 and is expected to swell by another 32,000 over the next 30. That’s roughly equivalent to adding the number of people already living in the area from south of Waikanae through to Raumati.

Primed for growth

The predicted growth won’t happen all at once, but the Kāpiti Coast District Council is already planning for it. The Council consulted (19 October to 19 November 2021) with residents on its approach to growth for the next 30 years in tandem with its strategy for a diverse, cohesive and connected network of open spaces.

Council General Manager Strategy, Growth and Recovery Natasha Tod, says the district is well on its way to achieving its vision of a thriving environment, vibrant economy and strong community.

“We’ve developed a substantial work programme to help stimulate our local economy as it rebuilds from the pandemic and to build resilience for the future.

“We’re investing $225.3million in our capital works programme over the next three years. That’s an average of $75.1million a year — more than triple the spend for each of the last three years.

“Increasing our investment will allow us to ‘build back better’ from COVID-19, and future-proof our infrastructure, services and community facilities. This will enable us to accommodate the growth we’re expecting and ensure new development is adequately serviced,” she says.

“We’re seeing really strong interest from developers in residential development in Kāpiti, in large part due to the improved transport networks to Wellington. But I think in addition to that, people are looking at new ways of working, especially remotely, and the secret's out about our great climate and fabulous lifestyle.”

The question of housing stock

Like the rest of New Zealand, Kāpiti is experiencing a shortage of housing stock and a rise in house prices. The lower quartile house price in the district increased by 435% between 2001 - 2021.

“We’ve been seeing about 250 new houses a year built here, but the predicted growth means we need double that,” Tod says.

“It’s pleasing to see developers showing interest in different types of housing. A lot of our district’s easily developed land has been taken, so medium density housing like townhouses and apartments offer more affordable, easily maintained and stylish options for people looking for a change of pace.”

Building the future

The past three years have seen an average 19% growth in building consents issued by the Council, according to Group Manager Regulatory Services, James Jefferson. Despite the extra pressure, including processing 26 building consents from home during the latest lockdown, staff were still turning them around in an average of 12 to 13 days instead of the statutory 20 days, he says.

“We’ve got a good relationship with the local building industry, and we’ve resourced and prepared ourselves better. We’ve taken on more staff and have more coming.

We’re working on continuous improvement to position us better for the community growth we’re expecting,” he says.

But the national building material supply chain problems are also biting in Kāpiti.

“Builders are asking to put consents on hold due to supply chain and labour shortages — this has significantly increased and reinforces the national picture. We’re no different.

“The underlying problem is the huge number of houses that need to be built, but the difficulty getting qualified people means we’ve had to fail a lot of inspections. The shortage of qualified construction labour and supervision means the inspectors are almost having to be quasi trainers, which we are being careful to avoid.

“I’m unapologetic about failing inspections — we’re the guardians of the public who put hundreds of thousands of dollars into their key investment — they have to know it will be durable. We don’t want a repeat of the leaky homes debacle of the 1990s — that’s why inspectors do what they do,” Jefferson says.

The Council’s response has been to set up a sector group to better educate professional consent agents from the developers, planners and architects through to the builders and building supply industry.

“Our goal is to get the number of requests for further information down. They can cause massive rework and delays for everyone. The sector group aims to improve the process from initial idea through to completion, to create a quicker and smoother ride for everyone,” Jefferson says.