Latest news with #RMA
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Housing density fightback reaches Avondale; what Auckland schools really need
The Whau Local Board, which represents Avondale, New Lynn and Blockhouse Bay, decided this week to support Bishop's desire for 'increased intensification around rapid transit corridors'. But it declared its support in a way that reveals it doesn't agree with Bishop at all. One reason this is significant is that while Fletcher and Churton have centre-right political affiliations, the Whau board is solidly Labour. Whau wants the walkable catchments limited to 200-300m. This excludes the big new apartment blocks in Avondale by Kāinga Ora, Ockham and others: they're about 500-600m away from the station. It also excludes the Avondale Racecourse, part of which is likely to be developed in the coming years. Board chair Kay Thomas confirmed this to me, saying they believe 200-300m is 'adequate'. The board also wants to redefine 'rapid transit corridors' to limit the concept to 'the City Rail Link, main trunk line and arterial roads of four or more lanes'. That would remove the rail line through Whau from the designation. The Avondale Racecourse will be developed, one way or another, in the coming years, but the local board says it's outside the 'walkable catchment' of the railway station. Photo / Paul Estcourt To me, this suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of the core function of a rail corridor and the reason the CRL has been built. The entire rail network will become easier to live and work along, and the more people who do live and work along it, the more functional the trains will be. As the Avondale town centre develops, there's likely to be much more housing demand from people wanting to live within a 10-minute walk of the station. The Whau board had another big objection to Bishop's RMA reform plans, and in this it joins with many others and, in my view, is on solid ground. It wants to stop proposals to remove the rural-urban boundary and fast-track more housing developments on the edge of the city. It says this will undermine quality planning, ruin productive soil, allow more housing on flood-risk land and in places that lack water, wastewater and other infrastructure, and put at risk areas of special ecological value, like the Waitākere Ranges. The board objects to the planned reduction in building standards. Dropping requirements for balconies and outdoor space could result in slums, it says, while allowing buildings and other impervious surfaces to cover more of a section will make the risk of flooding worse. The board is also worried there will be more commercial risk to the council, such as there has been from the leaky-homes crisis. RMA reform and the future of the Auckland Unitary Plan was going to be debated by the governing body of council last month, but that was delayed by ongoing ministerial announcements. That debate is now expected later this month. It's hard to know what Bishop thought would happen when he told Auckland Council to produce a new plan that allows a lot more density in the city, right before a council election. The council can't stick its head in the sand: population growth will happen whether we like it or not, and it's much better to plan for it. But the minister shouldn't be surprised at the rising clamour of election candidates who want to defend the way things are now. What Auckland schools really need Education Minister Erica Stanford modelling good student behaviour at Rangitoto College this week. Photo / Dean Purcell Education Minister Erica Stanford was widely praised this week for announcing the end of NCEA, with a new assessment programme to be phased in over the next few years. The issue is particularly important in Auckland, which has a unique distribution of schools. Under the old decile system, 10% of all schools in the country were in each of 10 groupings according to wealth: 10% in the wealthiest decile (decile 10), 10% in the second wealthiest (decile 9) all the way down to 10% in the poorest decile (decile 1). This is what 'decile' means: each of them is a tenth of the total. But in Auckland, very few schools were in the middle deciles. Most schools were deciles 8-10 or deciles 1-3. This reveals that we have many schools where the kids come from wealthy homes, many where they come from poor homes, and not many in the middle. This distribution still exists, we just don't use the decile system to describe it anymore. This impacts not just the city but the whole country. New Zealand has correspondingly more schools that were located in the middle deciles, and fewer at the top and bottom. Education issues in Auckland are, therefore, different from those in the country as a whole. A lot of the debate about 'good schools' focuses on the high-decile end. To put it crudely: Grammar or Kings? EGGS or Dio? But the most important education issues in Auckland relate to the other end of the scale. What do we do about kids who are failing? What schools with poor catchments are doing well and what can we learn from them? What are the other things we need to do in society, to give kids a decent chance? These are all questions about poverty. Educator Alwyn Poole, who has run some very successful charter schools and alternative private schools, weighed into the debate this week. His view is that changing the assessment scheme is all very well, but it doesn't address the core issues. What are they? He listed six 'key areas for the contribution of education towards our future'. – 'How to support parenting so that the vast majority of 5-year-olds arrive at school ready to fully engage and with the basics of a love of learning, good behaviours, as well as numeracy and literacy in place.' Poole said this includes 'parents reading to their children and being fully informed of key aspects of development'. – 'Massively improving school attendance.' Poole said less than 1% of Vote Education is allocated to this, even though we know attendance is in crisis. – 'Significantly [closing] the gaps between those who achieve and those who don't', whom he noted are 'concentrated among poorer families, Māori and Pasifika'. In 2024, 16% of school leavers had no qualifications, but for Māori it was 28%. Poole called that figure 'appalling'. But, he said, 'I do not see a single ounce of effort from Stanford on this.' – Every high school should have a 5-year improvement plan for outcomes, 'including aims and how to achieve them'. – Improving the quality of teachers. – Reforming the 'massive and inept Ministry of Education'. Poole's critique runs foul of teacher unions, because he sees collective agreements as a big part of the problem. And although he is open that his political views align with the Act Party, he and party leader David Seymour have fallen out bitterly over the way charter schools are being established. This antagonism on both the left and the right of politics is a shame, because Poole's central ideas – items 1-4 above – are vitally important. All the reforms in the world will come to nothing if the impact of poverty on education is not addressed. The mayor who wants to fix it himself Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger, who's entered the election campaign period by attacking a cycleway. Photo / George Heard I'm not sure whether to be grateful or fearful we don't have a mayor like the one in Christchurch. Phil Mauger is reportedly using his own money to pay for a street redesign that will rip out a cycleway. Grateful it's not happening here too, or fearful that it might? Ripping out a cycleway in Christchurch! Thanks to the post-earthquake rebuild, it's only the leading cycle city in the country. Christchurch's 35 bike-lane counters recorded 4 million rides in the 12 months to June, up 40% on 2017. And that growth is accelerating: a third of it occurred last year. This is an entirely predictable outcome from the city's relatively strong investment in safe cycling: 3.3% of the annual transport budget. Compare Auckland, where we allocate only 1% of the transport budget and AT has not always managed to spend even that. As a result, the annual cycling count isn't growing much: it bobbles around 3.5 million rides. Mauger declared last year that people 'should not be forced into particular modes of transport', meaning cycling. What? No one is being forced to ride a bike. It's about creating realistic choices. The only people forced into 'one particular mode' are drivers who don't have good public transport, walking or cycling options. Mauger also believes the cycleway he wants to rip up is causing congestion. But cars cause congestion. Alternative transport options take cars off the road, easing congestion. The problem Christchurch now faces is bigger than an anti-cycling backlash. Mayors shouldn't be designing cities to suit themselves. And they definitely shouldn't be using their own wealth to do it. The transit map to rule us all Auckland Transport's new map showing how the City Rail Link will transform the transit network in the city. Seen the new transit map? With the City Rail Link (CRL) likely to open in the middle of next year, Auckland Transport has released a brand-new map showing how it will work with the key public transport routes in the city. While we've always known the CRL itself will carry trains in both directions in a loop under the city, there have been several options for exactly how it will work. Keep the existing lines as they are, just running the trains around the loop and back the way they came? Join the Western Line to the Southern Line, or to the Eastern Line? Invent something more complex, to join them all up? And which stations will be key for rapid bus connections? AT's solution is a hybrid. The biggest single change to the existing setup is the combination of the Western and Eastern lines into a new East-West Line (E-W). You'll be able to ride from Swanson into the central city, looping around Karanga-a-Hape, Te Waihorotiu and Waitematā, then on to Glen Innes and down to Manukau, without changing trains. The Southern Line won't do this: renamed as the South-City Line (S-C), it will travel from Pukekohe to the central city, loop around and head back. The Onehunga Line will run to Newmarket, as now, but instead of carrying on into the city it will join the Western line and head to Henderson. Onehunga passengers on the Onehunga-West Line (O-W) wanting to go right into town will have to change trains. Like most transit maps these days, including the Auckland map it will replace, the design is inspired by the London Underground map. That's a good thing: clarity and style are virtues. It also makes a point of showing how the trains will connect with major bus services. That's good too: the city is building an integrated transit network and we're being encouraged to think of it as such. At Greater Auckland, they've suggested this could go a step further. Instead of calling the integrated network 'Trains and Rapid Buses', why not take the chance to rebrand? That's a very good idea. GA suggests Auckland Rapid Transit. What's this all going to mean? 'You could be shopping at LynnMall and if they don't have what you want, jump on an East-West train straight to Sylvia Park to see if they do, all within the $50 weekly fare cap,' said AT's chief executive Dean Kimpton when he released the map. He's right, and that's not the end of it. Several of the city's other big shopping malls will also be directly connected to every suburb with a rail line, including Commercial Bay, Westfield in Newmarket and Manukau, Dress Smart in Onehunga and WestCity in Henderson. For many people, the even bigger attraction will be the rail network's easier connection of home and work, not to mention home and the entertainments of the city. Live in Onehunga and work in Henderson? One train ride. Live in Glen Eden and work in Panmure? Also one train ride. Live in Avondale, or Glen Innes, Papakura, Parnell or Ellerslie, and want to go clubbing on Karangahape Rd or soak up a big concert in the Aotea Centre? One easy train ride. Is this the optimum use of the CRL? Time will tell, and there is scope for change. One service not included on the map, although it will use the S-C line, is Te Huia, the train to Hamilton. City Vision's candidate for the Waitematā ward, Patrick Reynolds, suggests these trains could run to the Maungawhau Station. There might need to be some rejigging of other services, but that's a big, four-platform station, it's on the E-W and O-W lines, and there is ample scope to develop a proper terminal for inter-regional rail. Far better than the current terminal at the Strand, which isn't close to or connected to anything. By the way, here's a map of the Tokyo transit system. The odd thing is, by all accounts it works. Important to know your colour coding, I imagine. Transit map of Tokyo. What now for the Waitākere Ranges? The council has been consulting on a new Deed of Acknowledgement for the Waitākere Ranges Heritage Area (WRHA), which will establish a partnership with the local iwi, Kawerau ā Maki. NZ First's Shane Jones says the plan looks like 'co-governance', but it's hard to see how. There will be no change of land ownership, no change to private land, no new restrictions on public access and no change to the existing decision-making powers of the council and the Government. A total of 2251 people and organisations have shared their views on the proposal. The council says the process confirmed 'the deep significance the Waitākere Ranges hold for Aucklanders'. There was 'a wide range of views on how the area should be protected and governed, with a majority supporting a more inclusive and enduring partnership model' between the council and iwi. Feedback came from residents, iwi, schools, marae, local and recreation groups and environmental organisations. In total, 51% of submitters supported the proposal, 39% opposed it and 10% were neutral or unclear. People living within the boundaries of the three local boards were more supportive of the proposed partnership than the wider Auckland community. Henderson-Massey residents were 78% in favour and for Whau residents it was 75%, while 54% of submitters living within the Waitākere Ranges area supported the plan. What's proposed in this new Deed of Acknowledgement? As partnerships go, it's not very revolutionary. An historical account will be published, outlining and acknowledging Te Kawerau ā Maki's enduring relationship with the ranges and recognising their role as kaitiaki. There'll be a non-statutory strategic plan with work programmes and a monitoring role for the iwi. An advisory forum will be set up with five council members, five from the iwi and one from the Department of Conservation. This forum will not have any decision-making powers or be able to tell anyone what to do. The Waitākere Ranges, where it's all about the bush. Photo / Michael Craig Mostly, that means the council remains in charge, although the forum is expected to 'play an important role advocating for the protection and enhancement of the Waitākere Heritage Area and promoting its national, regional and local significance'. Community participation 'will be welcomed' at the forum's meetings and activities. The council says, 'the deed confirms a shared commitment by all parties to work together - and alongside the community - to care for the Waitākere Ranges through a collective vision, coordinated action, and mutual accountability'. Local boards have been signing off on the plan this week, ahead of its presentation to the full council for approval next Thursday. Empty bus syndrome 'I live in Paerata Rise,' a reader wrote to tell me this week, 'and there's a bus service that runs from 4.30am to around 10pm, from here to Pukekohe train station. The total passenger numbers would be three or four people daily. To me, this is absurd and part of the reason why Auckland Transport costs so much. They'd save most of the cost by issuing taxi chits to people who actually use the service. At the very least the number of buses should be reduced by 90%.' My correspondent thought the service probably costs around $200,000 a year. Is he right? Paerata Rise is part of the enormous and very rapid expansion of suburbs in the far south of the city. It will have its own railway station soon, but for now, residents have to drive to get anywhere, or catch a bus. Clearly, very few choose the bus. On the one hand, it's easy to see that an under-used service is a waste of money. But there is another side to this. If those buses are 'reduced by 90%', the service will become effectively useless. People will decide they can't catch the bus because it never comes. So the question for the residents of Paerata Rise becomes: do you want public transport or not? If so, AT would like to think you'll use it. But if not, you'll reinforce your current status as a car-dependent culture. That may seem fine. But if the hundreds of thousands of people who will be living in Auckland's far south in the decades to come remain as car-dependent as they are now, they will require a massive expansion of roads, and car parks. And the cost of all that will be exponentially more than the cost of efficient public transport. The crunch will come with the trains. The CRL will open, allowing the trains to run much more often. Three new stations near the end of the South-City line will open, including Paerata Rise, making rail an easier option for tens of thousands more people. And unlike when you're stuck in the car on the motorway, you can spend your train commute on Facebook, TikTok, doing emails or, gulp, even reading a book. The golf course that refuses to die Takapuna Golf Course beside the motorway or State Highway 1. Photo/Brett Phibbs The Takapuna Golf Club has been told its hopes of keeping an 18-hole course cannot survive, because the council needs half the land, which it owns, for vital flood resilience work for Milford and the Wairau Valley. The club and the council have worked together to find a solution acceptable to both parties. But nothing came of it, and the council resolved last month to proceed with its plan to create a wetland on the park that will double as a floodwater detention sink when required. The plan is part of the council's Making Space for Water programme, which has already proven its worth in places like Northcote and Oakley Creek. But the golf club isn't giving up. It's produced the 'Shoal Bay Solution', a plan to 'safely redirect water through a landscaped green channel and underground pipe system'. The channel and pipe would prevent flooding in the Wairau Valley and Milford by funnelling it away from the golf course, under Northcote Rd, under nearby Smith's Bush and the motorway and out to Shoal Bay. Instead of flooding to the north and east of the park, the water would flow south. The club says its new plan could be built quickly and cheaply, and would 'safeguard hundreds of trees and important natural ecological areas'. The 18-hole course would remain and there'd be no need to confront 'the environmental impacts and long-term maintenance issues' of a wetland. I can still remember what Watercare's Andrew Chin told the council in the wake of the devastating 2023 floods. There was so much water in the Wairau Valley 'it would not be possible to build a pipe big enough to carry it all safely away'. But I'm not an engineer. The golf club's new plan was created by engineers and perhaps they've cracked it. I asked the council what they think of the Shoal Bay Solution. Barry Potter, director of resilience and infrastructure, told me: 'Last week we met with North Shore Takapuna Golf Ltd's technical advisers, with a brief follow-up earlier this week with two of their advisers, and we will be meeting with them again on Friday, 15 August. We have nothing further to add until we have had these discussions.' More to come on this! To sign up for Simon Wilson's weekly newsletter, click here, select Love this City and save your preferences. For a step-by-step guide, click here.
NZ Herald
7 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
New Zealand needs a cultural shift in infrastructure planning
A sober reminder of the scale of our challenge came in June with the release of the draft National Infrastructure Plan from the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission Te Waihanga. The plan lays bare a troubling paradox; between 2010 and 2019, New Zealand's investment in infrastructure represented the highest proportion of GDP among OECD nations, yet we ranked near the bottom of the OECD for return on that investment. In short, we're not getting bang for our buck and we need to do much better. Part of that comes down to how hard it is to build things here. Over recent years, the time and cost of securing planning approvals, designations and resource consents has risen significantly. We often hear frustration about the layers of complexity, duplicated processes and the inability to get timely decisions. Unfortunately, the consequences are felt by everyone stuck in traffic or using our deteriorating public assets. The good news is that change is under way. Infrastructure New Zealand policy director Michelle McCormick. This year alone, we've seen a steady stream of initiatives to modernise the infrastructure system. The Government has begun reshaping the regulatory landscape with a major legislative reform programme. We have seen commencement of the new Fast-track Approvals legislation, which should help accelerate some critical projects by aligning all consents and other regulatory approvals via a one-stop-shop. A new National Policy Statement for Infrastructure will, for the first time, provide consistent national direction for how infrastructure is planned and delivered, alongside other important resource considerations. This will mean a more consistent approach and treatment of critical infrastructure, especially for national network operators such as NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), KiwiRail and Transpower, or other infrastructure owners and operators who currently need to convince 67 different councils of the need for asset development and standard maintenance activities. Phase two of the reform to the Resource Management Act (RMA) includes long-overdue updates to 14 existing and seven new national direction instruments. Infrastructure-related settings changes include telecommunications, renewable electricity generation, electricity transmission standards and the going-for-housing-growth package. These may sound like technical changes, but they matter. They help create certainty and reduce unnecessary duplication and overly bureaucratic approval processes. They also speed up decision-making, all while ensuring environmental standards are maintained. A cultural shift is also needed. For too long, our infrastructure system has been set up to say 'no' by adding hurdles and rarely removing them. The Resource Management Act has spawned 30 years of complex rules and fragmented planning across the country. While the current amendments and new and updated National Direction instruments will help, what is needed is a new planning and environmental management system that enables good projects to proceed, with appropriate safeguards. Getting to 'yes, with conditions' must become the norm. That won't happen overnight. Improving the rules is just one piece of the puzzle. We also need high-quality, timely environmental monitoring so decisions are based on reliable data. Reform of the Environmental Reporting Act is on the table and it's vital that this leads to better, more transparent information to support infrastructure decision-making. Importantly, the Government is also looking at ways to align regional spatial planning, improve housing development processes and introduce nationally standardised zones. This will help reduce the endless local variations that currently make infrastructure delivery so complicated and costly. As the Minister for Infrastructure has pointed out, 'across New Zealand, there are 1175 different kinds of zones. In the entirety of Japan, which uses standardised zoning, there are 13 zones'. New Zealand is special but I don't think we are that special. Simplifying the field, removing unnecessary over-complication and making the rules clearer for everyone can ease the way for infrastructure development and address at least one of the causes of our high project costs. The avalanche of legislative change is progressing. Work on the replacement RMA in the form of two new acts is well under way but is unlikely to be completed this parliamentary term. These changes will lay the building blocks for a better system, but installing a new regime that has cross-party support is critical. Our system settings must keep improving, the reforms we make must be implemented properly and we must hold on to the momentum for change. These are complex shifts and signal a new maturity in how we think about infrastructure; not as stand-alone projects solving isolated problems, but as part of our broad economic and social fabric. The reality is that system reforms don't get people excited like seeing shovels in the ground, but in many ways, they are even more essential. The way we regulate, plan, consent and deliver infrastructure in New Zealand is riddled with complexity, delay and cost. This doesn't just hurt the Government and our local councils, it harms every New Zealander getting to work, waiting for a hospital bed or learning in a substandard classroom. Many of today's changes won't be visible to the public immediately, but they are essential if we want to lift our performance, attract investment and deliver the infrastructure New Zealanders require over the long term. Infrastructure New Zealand is an advertising sponsor of the Herald's Infrastructure report.
NZ Herald
7 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Why Resource Management Act hearings need to be overhauled and a more democratic system introduced
What has developed from this is a group of people who work in this field as consultants, as well as those who act as commissioners, approving or rejecting these sorts of applications. Some of these consultants go on to spend time as commissioners and some commissioners find work as consultants. When a resource consent application is made for the likes of a helipad, a local authority typically holds a hearing. Under the RMA, a local authority may delegate any hearing to a commissioner or commissioners appointed by them for this purpose. They may or may not be a member of the local authority but can assume any of its functions, powers or duties under the RMA. According to the RMA, the hearings must be held in public, without unnecessary formality and must recognise tikanga Māori. As well as this, only the chairperson or a member of the hearing is allowed to question parties or witnesses. And, importantly for me, cross-examination is not allowed. As someone who has practised law for 54 years, such a system is foreign to what I understand to be a proper process. Such a process, in my view, should test the evidence via cross-examination, allow parties to participate fully, and assist the less fortunate with legal aid to balance the scales of justice. I have experienced what I believe is a relatively rare situation at one RMA hearing where an experienced commissioner (who is also an experienced lawyer) allowed parties with an interest in the application to seek clarification through him. He then put the questions he thought appropriate to the witness, in what felt far more like a democratic process. Some local authorities tell participants they will allow questions via the hearing's chairperson, but the extent to which it happens in practice is unclear. At one hearing this year, I gave evidence as a member of the public opposing an application from someone wanting to build a boatshed over the Waitematā Harbour in Herne Bay where I live. (As an aside, ratepayers probably don't know that boatsheds over public land do not pay any lease costs for this privilege – they get it for free. In Australia, buildings of this type on public land pay handsome fees.) Westmere. Photo / Chris Tarpey The application for the boatshed was opposed by the Herne Bay Residents Association and while yes, it's a wealthy area, a community group cannot be (and should not be) expected to raise the funds to challenge the numerous experts an applicant often has. That's a problem because without a system of cross-examination, the only way you can mount an effective challenge under the regime is to pay for experts to counter what an applicant's experts are saying. Having to do this pushes up RMA compliance costs, which is a significant issue. Unless you can afford to do so, the deck is stacked against you. Someone with extensive means who is making an application is motivated to put up expert after expert, and opponents with limited monies are not on equal terms. This is contrary to Australia, where any application for something like a boatshed on a beach requires signage in a public place to show what is proposed and where there are rules that better allow witnesses to be challenged and tested. Our system needs to be reconsidered to create a more even playing field and a fundamentally more democratic process for our communities. Gary Gotlieb is the former President of the New Zealand Criminal Bar Association and Auckland District Law Society.
The Spinoff
03-08-2025
- Business
- The Spinoff
Luxon assures his party that he's relentlessly back on track
Economic growth, improved education, reform after reform: National's annual conference in Christchurch was a chance for the party to congratulate itself. But there were some conspicuous absences. Before Christopher Luxon spoke, there was an important announcement about air fresheners. The Young Nats were selling them, said Gabby Bird, MC and Young National vice president. One was vanilla scented; the other was an illustration of the prime minister in a train, choo-chooing to get New Zealand back on track. Then there was an introduction from local MP Nicola Grigg, saying that Luxon had made a 'Herculean effort to pull our party back together'. A hype reel of Luxon holding babies and looking serious on site visits, with front-facing camera excerpts from front-bench ministers trumpeting National's achievements concluded the lengthy preamble, and the prime minister walked onto the stage. National's annual conference, held on Saturday at the Airforce Museum in Wigram, Christchurch, was an opportunity for the prime minister to tell the party faithful just how 'awesome' his team was doing at leading the country. 'Two years ago, New Zealand was in utter turmoil,' Luxon said, to applause. Ram raids and gangs were the issue, and economic mismanagement. From there, the prime minister had a long list of achievements to run through. Some words kept cropping up: 'relentless,' he said, referring to the work of ministers. 'Laser-focused,' he said, referring to the government's plan. The National Party was for those 'who believe that our country's best days lie ahead of us'. He referred to various ministers watching from the audience as 'mate'; got them to stand up and wave. Just like at last year's conference, Luxon made no reference to the parties he's in government with – although Nicola Willis did later acknowledge the 'energy' the prime minister puts into controlling David Seymour and Winston Peters. Luxon talked for nearly half an hour, drawing just one lukewarm laugh for a jab at Labour building bridges that won design awards while National built bridges that cars could actually drive on. Compare that with Nicola Willis, his deputy leader and finance minister, who managed to get the crowd enthusiastically laughing thrice in five minutes. But by the time Louise Upston spoke, lots of the audience were looking at their phones, including the minister for climate change, Simon Watts. Chris Bishop declared that 'everything will be better once we fix the RMA'; Willis decried the threat of the Greens' budget; Louise Upston explained that she was going to bring more tourists into New Zealand. Many of the same notes as last year's conference were hit – although it was perhaps slightly warmer, broken heaters having been replaced with serrated blue light projects glowing on the ceiling. As positive and indeed relentless as Luxon was, he's fighting the sudden announcement of 15% tariffs from the US and columnists declaring that he's living on borrowed time. Perhaps an announcement would help; Luxon and Tama Potaka, conservation minister, confirmed changes which had been consulted on earlier about concessions on conservation land and requiring overseas visitors to pay levies at popular spots. Making it easier to get a concession would 'unlock more economic activity', Luxon said. 'There's huge potential for growth on DOC land… If we want to keep Kiwis at home we can't afford to keep saying no to every opportunity that comes our way.' Cathedral Cove, Milford Sound, Aoraki Mount Cook and the Tongariro Crossing would require a charge to visit. How would New Zealanders prove they were local? Where would the checkpoints be? How much was the charge? Would the number of sites be expanded in the future? Asked at a media stand-up after the announcement, Potaka seemed unsure. 'We're figuring out the implementation for those areas, then we might look at some other areas as well,' he said. At an afternoon tea break, people lined up for free-range meat pies; The Spinoff overheard two people in the line muttering about a 'waste of $17,000 of ratepayers' money', possibly a reference to the local council's spending on repainting the Springfield doughnut, which was recently raised in parliament. SuperNats (over 60) sold preserves and a couple wearing Young Nat lanyards strolled towards the merch table holding hands. Clumps formed around the ministers, people eager to tell them their opinions about what the government should be doing. 'I got to talk to Nicola,' said Allan, from the West Coast branch. He thought the party should look into secondary tax for people receiving pensions, which he thinks prevents pensioners from getting jobs – removing this barrier could unlock another workforce and grow New Zealand's economy, he said. Sunil, from the Te Atatū branch, said that 'good progress' had been made. Dulari, from Invercargill, agreed. In 2018, when she moved to New Zealand, her husband had waited more than 12 hours for surgery in an emergency room while his throat was bleeding. This year, a friend of hers had gone to the emergency room and been seen within three hours. For the party to be successful at the next election, she said, the people of New Zealand had to be 'convinced that what National chooses is what the country needs'. The panels continued, relentlessly, with ministers glowing in the blue gel lights. Someone asked a question about 'young women who have babies and end up married to the government'. Tania Tapsell, Rotorua mayor, wanted to know whether the government would give councils more tools to charge rates for short-term accommodation providers. Police minister Mark Mitchell, who had described some young offenders as 'the worst of the worst', got a hard one: what was the government doing about the link between family violence and youth offending? Were they addressing the root cause? They were, he said quickly. There's an action plan and everything. Act and New Zealand First weren't the only conspicuous absences. Outside the conference, protesters called for the government to sanction Israel and recognise the state of Palestine as starvation continues in Gaza. Far away on the West Coast, two protesters sat in a coal bucket, protesting a mine with fast-track approval to dig up conservation land on the Denniston Plateau. 'There will always be activists and opposition who don't want growth,' Luxon said in his speech, one of just a few gestures to his detractors. The prime minister glossed over media questions about how changing the passport or transgender people's inclusion in sports helped people worried about their incomes. 'We're moving in the right direction,' Luxon said. As always, he sounded like he meant it.
Otago Daily Times
28-07-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Rolleston rezone removes hurdle for Mitre 10 store
The path is clearing for Mitre 10 to set up shop next to the new Pak'nSave supermarket in Rolleston. The Selwyn District Council adopted the recommendations of an independent hearing commissioner to approve Foodstuff's request to rezone land to allow an extension of retail development next to its new supermarket on the corner of Levi and Lincoln-Rolleston roads. Councillors approved the commissioners' recommendations on Wednesday, with the decision to be notified and open to appeal. Council's development and growth executive director Robert Love said the councillors' decision on Wednesday does not grant consent for a trade retail supplier to build on the site, but 'will enable an easier pathway for future applications for consent to build'. 'Once the decision is notified, there is a 30-day appeal period. If no appeals are received, the council will notify that the change is in effect, and the plan will be changed five days after that.' In his 68-page decision report, the commissioner concluded the plan change request aligned with the purpose of the Resource Management Act (RMA) and relevant planning documents, that concerns raised in the submissions were adequately addressed, and a robust planning framework was in place to manage future effects. If there are no appeals, the further development process of the site will be free to start once the changes are official in the district plan. Foodstuffs applied to rezone the area from medium-density residential to large-format retail, with plans for a Mitre10 Mega to be built on the site, once it goes through a separate consent process. Foodstuffs South Island stated that it 'accepts and is supportive of the Commissioner's recommendations'. 'Like Pak'nSave, Mitre 10 is an iconic kiwi-owned business, and the two stores are complementary of one another. 'We're looking forward to seeing the South Island's biggest supermarket, Pak'nSaveRolleston, operating alongside Mitre10 as part of the continued growth of New Zealand's fastest growing district. 'There are further planning steps that Foodstuffs South Island needs to undertake, including a subdivision consent, so we'll have a clearer idea on timing following that.' Mitre10 spokesman Murray Smith, one of the three brothers that own the Mitre 10 branches in Christchurch, said they are excited about the prospect of developing a store in Rolleston, which he said would provide over 60 jobs. 'It is very early in the process, and many of the details are yet to be finalised, so at this stage it is not possible to commit to an opening date for the store, other than to say Mitre 10 is keen to become a valuable part of the Selwyn local community as soon as possible.' At the council meeting on Wednesday, councillor Grant Miller said his recollection in developing the district plan was the council's 'desire to see large format retail, big box retail, to be on the i-Zone (industrial area) side of the railway line'. 'Up until now, most of the players have played by those rules. 'Players that have played by the rules might be disadvantaged by this decision, on Mitre10 coat-tailing on another supermarket development.' Miller was frustrated that there's a lot of 'great work done in planning and then it seems to get smashed down'. Senior policy planner Jocelyn Lewes said any individual can apply to change the plan. She said the proposal's appropriateness was assessed by the independent commissioner, who considered the economic impacts on the nearby town centre, and the site's suitability relative to existing zoned areas. 'For whatever reason, development of a large format nature has not yet occurred in what we currently have zoned as large format retail.' Foodstuffs gained resource consent to build the new 8,108sqm store in Rolleston in 2022. Foodstuffs then lodged a private plan change request with the council in March 2024 to rezone the around 7 hectares of land from a medium density residential zone to a large format retail zone. The almost $50 million Pak'nSave supermarket is set to open ahead of schedule on October 14 and will be the largest supermarket in the South Island, spanning 8100sqm and creating around 250 local jobs. By Jonathan Leask, Local Democracy Reporter ■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
