Future Auckland is a collection of concerned stakeholders in the housing sector, from planners, developers, economists and infrastructure, civil, construction and build companies, and a vast range of goods and service suppliers that feed into the housing sector.
THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION PERIOD HAS NOW CLOSED
Your support helped extend the public consulation period, and gain the opportunity to present submissions to the PEP Committee.
We will continue to monitor how this input changes the draft FDS, plus request further detail and timing for the release of the revised strategy.
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT
The Auckland Council's Future Development Strategy was unveiled quietly for the first time in May this year. In June the people of Auckland were given just four weeks to comment on a document that will govern the development of this city through to 2050. But hardly anyone has even heard of it.
So what is it about?
The strategy, which has serious implications for everyone living in Auckland, relies on faulty and outdated data and is being rushed through with only a four week submission period. The claim is that it will:
- Reduce carbon emissions
- Adapt to the changing climate
- Enable equitable infrastructure
- Protect the natural environment
- Enable sufficient growth
What does it mean for Aucklanders?
- Severely restrict all further greenfield development until at least 2050
- Force intensification into existing urban areas that do not have the necessary infrastructure to support such development
- Discourage existing development
- Underserve the 50% of ratepayers in greater Auckland’s rural areas whose contribution pays for central city benefits they will never see
Aucklanders know this is wrong:*
- A majority of Aucklanders (58%) support either greenfield development or a mix of greenfield and intensification to meet Auckland’s future housing needs
- Fewer than 1 in 5 Aucklanders support intensification on its own
- Over seven in ten Aucklanders don’t believe Auckland is infrastructurally equipped to successfully deliver intensified housing
* Omnibus Survey: May 2023
If allowed to proceed as it is, what will the FDS focus on Intensification actually achieve?
Increased cost of housing
- Making housing affordability more difficult to address
- Making affordable rental houses harder to deliver
- Making Auckland less affordable and desirable to live
Increased strain on our core services: Power, Water, Sewerage, Transport
- The 2023 flooding demonstrated our stormwater burden. Intensification will worsen this
- Traffic congestion issues will get even worse, costing Aucklanders time and productivity
- Weather and maintenance events causing power outages will affect more people and will be harder to address
- Unswimmable beaches will become an even more common occurrence as services fail to cope with demand
Increased pressures of population growth
- Making Auckland a less competitive city internationally, as strained service delivery produces a less attractive and more expensive place to live
- Reduced communal spaces and well-maintained amenities as ad hoc higher density housing springs up with little forethought
- Halting development of existing sustainable communities, especially north of Albany where cheaper or more accessible options are available
Increased strain on our construction sector, when we need it most to deliver
- Reducing employment opportunities while the cost of living soars
- Negatively impacting the supply of goods & services to our communities
As it stands, the FDS is shortsighted and driven by an ideological preference for intensified housing. A debate this important should not be had in a few short weeks.
Your support has made a difference. You can still:
- Share this page on Facebook and Twitter
- Email your local councillor and request they vote against the current FDS
- Send us your logo to add to this page and show your support by emailing cosign@futureauckland.org
Frequently Asked Questions
It is important that plans that shape the next 30years of growth in Auckland are given the appropriate time and consideration to ensure the correct decisions are made. This campaign plans to slow down the Council's rushed approach and ensure a hearing addresses public and business concern, so that we don't find ourselves back here again in a few years, having gained no ground with ever increasing demands on housing supply.
In it's present form, the FDS will:
- Severely restrict all further greenfield development until at least 2050
- Force intensification into existing urban areas that do not have the necessary infrastructure to support such development
- Discourage existing development
- Underserve the 50% of ratepayers in greater Auckland’s rural areas whose contribution pays for central city benefits they will never see
- Increased cost of housing
- Making housing affordability more difficult to address
- Making affordable rental houses harder to deliver
- Making Auckland less affordable and desirable to live
- Increased strain on our core services: Power, Water, Sewerage, Transport
- The 2023 flooding demonstrated our stormwater burden. Intensification will worsen this
- Traffic congestion issues will get even worse, costing Aucklanders time and productivity
- Weather and maintenance events causing power outages will affect more people and will be harder to address
- Unswimmable beaches will become an even more common occurrence as services fail to cope with demand
- Increased pressures of population growth
- Making Auckland a less competitive city internationally, as strained service delivery produces a less attractive and more expensive place to live
- Reduced communal spaces and well-maintained amenities as ad hoc higher density housing springs up with little forethought
- Halting development of existing sustainable communities, especially north of Albany where cheaper or more accessible options are available
- Increased strain on our construction sector, when we need it most to deliver
- Reducing employment opportunities while the cost of living soars
- Negatively impacting the supply of goods & services to our communities
Greenfield developments include new infrastructure built to higher and 'Greener' standards than existing suburbs and with climate change in mind. They include more walking, cycling, public transport facilities, and reserves than older suburbs. The larger ones also include retail, employment and education facilities for residents. The standards also require Greenfileds to maintain more stream’s, protect wetlands and wetland species, as well as develop storm-water management solutions that ensure the water coming out of the development is cleaner and greener than when it went in.
The majority of the funding for expansion comes from those developing and ultimately living in such areas by way of development contributions. Council only pays for any additional benefits arising for existing residents. Developers and Council have access to a range of funding sources such as those enabled by the Government through the Infrastructure Finance and Funding Act.
Future Auckland
A CONCERNED COLLECTIVE
Our numbers are growing every day. In just a few short days since learning about the Auckland Council Future Development Strategy and its consequences, business and residents are showing their concern and support, by adding their logo or name to this page. Add yours here!
