Wednesday 21 August 2019

Mayor Phil Goff today welcomed the government’s move to address urban development and growth but cautioned against planning for growth without having the funding to go with it.

Central government today released its National Policy Statement on Urban Development to address supply of housing to meet demand.

“I am really pleased to see government tackling urban development to meet demand, but high growth cities cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of growth by themselves,” said Mayor Goff.

“At the moment, about 93% of public revenue goes to Government, yet cities shoulder most of the cost for accommodating growing populations. We need some degree of revenue sharing if Government wants Auckland to take more of a role in urban development.

“Council is investing more than ever into our city’s infrastructure with over $26 billion planned but there is a limit on what we can do. It either needs to be funded by central government or we need the tools to find the funding.

“We will be taking a closer look at the government’s proposals over the next few days, but proposed changes need to be consistent with a more compact city and be environmentally sustainable. Where growth occurs, there needs to be infrastructure to service it, particularly transport services and the funding to provide those.

“The Government still has a number of other proposals including RMA changes that we need to consider. All of these proposed changes need to be looked at as a package,” said Mr Goff.

ENDS

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