Hamilton City Council should follow Waipa’s lead

Hamilton City Council should follow Waipa’s lead in development contributions policy

Property Council Waikato Branch is pleased with Waipa District Council’s changes to its development contribution charges and is calling for Hamilton City Council to follow its lead.

The changes reflect the Branch’s long-standing advocacy work and Waipa District Council’s willingness to constructively engage with the development industry. The combination of this is manifested in much fairer and more equitable outcomes, especially for Cambridge.

Property Council is satisfied that Waipa District Council’s Policy and methodologies are now considerably more transparent than many other councils in the region. Cambridge North for example, has experienced a $10,000/section reduction whilst elsewhere in the district charges have reduced by $5,000/section.

Property Council is calling for Hamilton City Council to follow Waipa’s lead, as the application of its current model for charging development contributions is far too complicated and has little transparency.

Until recently, Hamilton City Council has been reluctant to meaningfully engage with the industry, instead imposing its policies under urgency on the basis of the requirement to comply with the law.

Waipa District Council, simply by engaging with the community earlier, was able to comply with the legislative time frames and at the same time analyse and make changes in response to the issues raised by Property Council.

The Branch is however pleased that Hamilton City Council has recognised these shortcomings and has formed a working group which includes members of the development community nominated by Property Council, to address concerns around development contributions.

Branch president Rob Dol is welcoming the chance to work with Hamilton City Council on its processes and achieving a fair and equitable development contributions policy.

“At the moment, the model appears focussed on revenue generation, instead of growth-related costs and benefits for the city.

“We believe Hamilton City Council’s model has created inequity. Instead of clearly defining cost allocations and the scope of works, it has convoluted processes and little accountability for how development contribution charges are calculated.

“We are looking forward to having meaningful discussions about how these charges affect the development sector and how to work collaboratively with the council going forward.”

ENDS

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