Going for Housing Growth: Providing for urban development in the new resource management system
Targeting of proposals
Current status and case for change
While existing NPS-UD requirements and proposed Going for Housing Growth policies are intended to have significant benefits for housing and urban outcomes, they also impose costs, particularly for councils. To reflect this, there are three tiers of urban environments identified in the NPS-UD to tailor requirements to places that will get sufficient benefits to justify the costs. Key requirements that apply to each tier are listed below.
- Tier 1 – Intensification requirements in certain zones (city centre zones, metro centre zones) and walkable catchments (for example, within a certain distance to city centre zones, metropolitan zones and rapid transit stops)
- Tier 1 and 2 – Preparation of housing and business development capacity assessments (HBA) and Future Development Strategies (FDS), and
- Tier 1, 2 and 3 – General NPS-UD provisions (for example, requirements to provide sufficient capacity and have no carparking minimums).
In the new system, there is still likely to be a need to target some requirements to different areas. For example, it’s unlikely to be proportionate to require low-growth provincial centres to produce HBA.
Summary of proposal
We’re exploring whether to largely retain the existing approach in the NPS-UD or whether changes should be made. We’re seeking feedback on whether the existing principle of setting the same requirements for all councils within the same urban environment (for example, treating Waipā and Waikato the same as Hamilton) is considered fit for purpose.
We’re also exploring which councils should be subject to existing and new requirements, such as specific requirements relating to the location of intensification and mixed-used zones or to meet housing growth targets and undertake development capacity assessments.