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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA
Tread with care
The proposed NPS - UDC may not have sufficient capacity
to recognise local and regional differences.
Text by Simon Schofield, Harkness Henry
IN 2015, THE PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION RELEASED
a report “Using Land for Housing”, which analysed the
dramatic increase in New Zealand house prices as a
result of the insufficient supply of land and development capacity for housing, both within and outside
cities, to meet increasing demand. The proposed
solution by central government was released on 2
June 2016 when the Ministry for the Environment issued a consultation document entitled “The Proposed
National Policy Statement on Urban Development
Capacity” (NPS – UDC).
At its broadest, this proposed NPS – UDC will require district and regional councils to give it effect
by making amendments to their regional and district
plans. The proposed NPS – UDC will also form part of
the decision-making process for resource consents
before councils.
However, this article argues that the proposed NPS
– UDC does not provide sufficient flexibility to recognise local and regional differences, and suggests
the objectives sought by the proposed NPS – UDC
could be better achieved through more targeted
responses.
PROPOSED NPS – UDC
The purpose of the proposed NPS – UDC is to
identify the national significance of the contribution
that urban areas make to the social, economic and
cultural well-being of people and communities, and
the need to enable urban development and change.
The NPS-UDC is designed to provide sufficient residential and business development capacity to enable
urban areas to meet residential and business demand. It ensures that plans and policy statements are
based on a robust, accurate and frequently updated
evidence base. As part of this decision-making process, there will be coordination within and between
local authorities and infrastructure providers in
urban areas. This enables planning decisions which
enable urban development in the short, medium and