Working Party on Development Contributions Policy

A Council-appointed Working Party on the Development Contributions Policy (DCP) has started work on reviewing the basis, structure and application of the new policy.

Headed by independent chairman, former Minister and City Councillor David Caygill, the DCP Working Party was set up in accordance with Council recommendations of 12 and 30 June, to seek a process whereby the Council and development industry could work together to fine-tune the new policy.

The policy is about identifying the costs of growth relating to reserves, network and community infrastructure. To help ease pressure on rates, the Council introduced a revised Development Contributions Policy on 1 July 2006, which assigned much of the cost of growth to the development industry - a change from earlier policies where ratepayers shouldered most of the cost.

Early financial projections indicate this change could net over $330 million to help pay for city growth over the 10 years of the Long-Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP). The Council has prepared the Development Contributions Policy to detail how it will collect this.

The development industry was unhappy with the new policy, saying it placed an undue burden on them and would discourage development in the City. In response, the Council agreed to freeze development contribution charges generally in line with those under the previous policy, pending a review by a combined Council-development industry working party.

The Working Party, which is made up of nine development industry representatives, five elected members, and Council staff in a reporting role, must review the basis, structure and application of the new 2006-2016 Development Contributions Policy. It must then report to the Council by the end of the year with recommendations, if needed, on how the policy should be revised. The Council then considers this as part of an amended LTCCP in 2007.

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