Government moves to end minimum carpark requirements and remove low height-limits in bid to increase dense housing
In a dramatic move to reshape New Zealand’s towns and cities, the Government will stop councils from imposing height limits of less than six-storeys and force them to accept developments with no carparks.
Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford’s National Policy Statement on Urban Development, quietly released on Thursday, aims to increase the density of housing in urban centres by setting rules for planning decisions made by local councils.
The overall intention of the plan is to dramatically increase housing development in urban areas – particularly housing that is very close to public transport.
In all “tier 1” cities – Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga, Christchurch, and Hamilton - councils would not be able to set building height limits of less than six storeys in city centres.
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In all urban areas with more than 10,000 people, district plans will not be allowed to include minimum car parking requirements, other than for accessible carparks.
This would allow developments to have much smaller footprints. It would not stop a business or development from having carparks if it wished to.
The Government believes it will allow for much denser housing to be built as in many areas minimum carpark requirements make development much more expensive.
Planning decisions covered by the policy include large regional plans but also decisions on individual resource consents and heritage orders.
The statement notes that these changes are likely to significantly change the character of some urban areas, which might upset some people.
“Those changes may detract from amenity values appreciated by some people but improve amenity values appreciated by other people, communities, and future generations, including by providing increase and varied housing densities in types.”
Housing “bottom lines” must be set by Tier 1 and 2 cities in their plans for the short to medium term – essentially numbers of housing they must plan to help build.
The Policy Statement comes into effect on 20 August but councils have a run in-time to implement any changes. Car parking changes must come into effect by February 2022, while storey-height changes will come into effect no later than August 2022.
Twyford said poor quality and restrictive planning had stopped New Zealand cities growing up rather than out.
“It has driven up the price of land and housing, and been a big driver behind the housing crisis. When overly restrictive planning creates an artificial scarcity of land on the outskirts of our cities, or floor space because of density limits in our city centres, house prices are driven up and people are denied housing options,” Twyford said.
The National Party’s new urban development spokeswoman Jacqui Dean said the statement was “madness”.
“This policy statement from Phil Twyford is madness. Congestion in cities is already a big issue and this will only exacerbate the problem as more cars jostle for fewer spaces. Public transport works for some but realistically it’s not a suitable option for everyone,“ Dean said.
National’s infrastructure spokesman Chris Bishop said the party supported removing the minimum carpark requirement.
“National supports removing mandatory minimum carpark requirements. We have concerns over the relatively quick lead-in time before the rules come into effect and also over accessibility for people who do genuinely need car parks.”