Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Bruce Weir: Independent urban planner and strategic development expert on the amendments to the fast-track system

Transcript

Bruce Weir: Independent urban planner and strategic development expert on the amendments to the fast-track system · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Fast change has been made to the laws that will
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: affect fast-track developments. Councils will now be allowed to claw
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: back some of the cost of the infrastructure from developers.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: The councils still want more.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: You could say the government's listening, but I think it's
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: trying to make something good out of something that's not great. Look,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: we're really happy to see they're listening, but look, that
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: was a half a billion dollar mistake that we can't
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: claim back.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Bruce, we're independent urban planners with us this morning. Bruce,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: good morning.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Ryan.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: So how much of what the councils will have to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: be stumping up with are the developers going to have
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to pay for? Is that what the councils are saying,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: not enough?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Look, I think there's some case to say for councils,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: but clawing back some DCs would be a positive thing. But,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: you know, you've got to be so careful with us
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: now With the developments, you don't want to discourage them.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I know it sounds like every developer makes a ton
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: of money, but it is really hard work to get
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: development through. And you don't want to discourage people doing innovative,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: out-of-the-box solutions for urban growth.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Like shipping people's effluents. from housing development north of Auckland.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, like, you've got to follow the money. And, look,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: we blow a lot of money within councils on infrastructure
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: and engineering runs right. And we're looking for innovative solutions.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: You've got to get more for less. You know, you've
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: got to get greater efficiency and all these things. And...
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: And I think the fast-tracking pathway provides that opportunity to
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: take slightly different tacks. There's been problems in the past,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, there are good
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: engineering solutions. There's great engineering fraternity out there who know
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: how to deliver infrastructure more efficiently on private lots. You
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: get bogged into the council government system and the costs
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: blow out pretty rapidly.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Bruce, if you're a developer listening to this and you go, oh,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: fast track, that sounds great. And then you have government
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: change to fast track, which means we could be paying
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: more for infrastructure. And then you've got council saying we
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: want more pressure on government to do more. What does
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: that do to your decision making?
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, it makes me extremely nervous. I mean, it's not
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that fast. No, that's what people have to understand.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: You know, I come from mainly private sector background, and
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: these fast-track processes take years. They cost the developer an
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: absolute fortune, so they rely on getting, I guess, non-zoned
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: land cheaply to make it all work. You know, if
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: you try and do something innovative on zoned land, you're
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: paying through the nose to get it, and then holding
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: costs and all the rest. You cannot deliver affordable housing
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: It's just impossible to do it through zoned land unless
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: you're sort of building slums for people, which nobody wants. So,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: you know, there's got to be a give and take here.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: It's not a one-sided thing at all, and councils need
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: to be extremely careful about how far they push.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Interesting. Bruce, appreciate your input this morning. Bruce, we're Independent
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Urban Plan it.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m. weekdays or follow
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.