Kerre Woodham: I'm not convinced we can do housing intensification properly

Around 200 people packed out the Mt Eden Village Centre in Auckland last night, and they were pretty riled up. In fact, many were furious over plans for high rise apartments and the loss of special character status for hundreds of villas and bungalows in the wider neighbourhood. And this is the kind of feeling that is being felt across many different Auckland suburbs, and it will be coming to a city or town near you.  

As we were discussing last week, draft plans for Auckland City would see Auckland's skyline in for a major makeover, increasing the city's capacity for new builds from 900,000 under the 2016 unitary plan to accommodating two million new homes. That's a lot. And it might be easy to dismiss the concerns of residents as being those of Boomer NIMBYs just worried about the house prices, but there are very real concerns that intensification on that level could be disastrous if there isn't careful planning. Communities aren't just about putting a roof over a head – you need infrastructure that can support those homes, like stormwater, like wastewater, like schools.  

It's estimated that if you want two million further dwellings, you'll need 56 more primary schools, 23 more secondary schools – good luck with that. I would argue you'd need loads of green spaces as well – lungs for the city. And I am not convinced that we have learned lessons from the past. Chucking up shoe boxes is not good for anyone, any neighbourhood, any city. Thoughtful, well-designed, high-density developments can be built and can live alongside those established character homes. I'm just not entirely convinced that we can do it in New Zealand. I would love to see evidence of it. I mean the closest I can get to is Stonefields and possibly Hobsonville Point. Perhaps some of the developments around Tauranga, they look to be reasonably well done, although there have been issues with the amount of traffic that suddenly appeared on the roads and the congestion that is caused.  

Give me an example of where thoughtful high-density development has taken place and I'd love to hear it. I'm just not convinced that when we go up, we know how to do it properly. We need more homes for more people. Absolutely we do. We need a variety of different homes, we need them to be near public transport and cycleways, hence the suburbs that are under question. We cannot simply keep up swallowing arable land. We need to go up. And I think the communities who are close to public transport hubs close to the city know this, they just want to know that the developments will be well planned and well supported by the necessary infrastructure. Who can blame them for being sceptical that this will happen?   

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Mornings podcast from News Talks.
He'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Across the other side of town. Things weren't quite so
celebratory or happy. Around two hundred people packed up the
mount Head and Village Center in Auckland last night, and
no were pretty riled up. In fact, many were furious
over plans for high rise apartments and the loss of
special character status for hundreds of villas and bungalows and

(00:34):
the wider neighborhood. And this is the kind of feeling
that is being felt across many different Auckland suburbs, and
it will be coming to a city or town near you.
It happens here, it'll be happening near you pretty shortly.
As we aim for more housing for more people. As

(00:56):
we were discussing last week, draft plans for Auckland City
would see Auckland Skyline and for a major makeover, increasing
the city capacity for new builds from nine hundred thousand
under the twenty sixteen Unitary Plan to accommodating two million
new homes. That's a lot, and it might be easy

(01:19):
to dismiss the concerns of residents as being those of
Boom and nimbees who are just worried about their house prices.
But there are very real concerns that intensification on that
level could be disastrous if there isn't careful planning. Communities
aren't just about putting a roof over ahead. You need

(01:41):
infrastructure that can support those homes, like stormwater, like wastewater,
like schools. It's estimated that if you want two million
further dwellings, you'll need fifty six more primary schools twenty
three more secondary schools. Good luck with that. I would

(02:04):
argue you'd need loads of green spaces as well lungs
for the city. And I am not convinced that we
have learned lessons from the past. Chucking up shoe boxes
is not good for anyone, any neighborhood, any city. Thoughtful,
well designed, high density developments can be built and can

(02:25):
live along side those established character homes. I'm just not
entirely convinced that we can do it in New Zealand.
I would love to see evidence of it. I mean,
the closest I can get to is Stonefields and possibly

(02:49):
Hobsonville Point. Perhaps some of the developments around Totonger. They
look to be reasonably by done or though there have
been issues with the amount of traffic that suddenly appeared
on the roads and the congestion that has caused. I mean,
give me an example of where thoughtful high density development

(03:10):
has taken place, and I'd love to hear it. I'm
just not convinced that when we go up we know
how to do it properly. We need more homes for
more people, absolutely we do. We need a variety of
different homes. We need them to be near public transport

(03:31):
and cycle ways. Hence the suburbs that are under question.
We cannot simply keep up swallowing arable land. We need
to go up. And I think the communities who are
close to public transport, hubs, close to the city know this.
They just want to know that the developments will be
well planned and well supported by the necessary infrastructure. Who

(03:56):
can blame them for being skeptical that this will happen.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
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