Auckland Council is asking for feedback on how Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland should grow over the next 30 years, with public consultation now open until 31 July 2023.
With half a million more people expected to live in the city by 2058, the draft Future Development Strategy is the council’s plan to make sure homes, jobs and infrastructure are built in the right places, at the right time, while also building our resilience to climate change and protecting our environment as we grow.
“The Future Development Strategy looks at the big issues around growth that affect our quality of life – things like where we choose to live and work, how we move around our city, our resilience to natural hazards and growing in a way that both reduces emissions and adapts to climate change, to benefit future generations,” says Chair of the Planning, Environment and Parks Committee, Councillor Richard Hills.
“And we want to hear from Aucklanders on whether they think we have got this right.”
The draft strategy recommends that most of Auckland’s future growth occurs in existing urban areas. It also proposes delaying or stopping development in specific greenfield areas (undeveloped land) that have previously been identified for future urban development, due to natural hazard risk, impacts on our ability to halve emissions and the high infrastructure costs associated with development.
The Future Development Strategy also maps out the urban areas in Auckland that are most constrained by natural hazards and recommends a way to determine which areas might be prioritised for investigations into the best adaptation responses.
Auckland Council’s General Manager of the Auckland Plan, Strategy and Research, Jacques Victor, says it’s important for the city to have a clear, agreed plan for managing its growth, and doing this now will ensure these are reflected in the next set of budget decisions we make as a council.
“The 10-year budget, also known as the Long Term Plan, which decides where Auckland Council’s funds go over a 10-year period, is due to be refreshed early next year and so it is important we have the Future Development Strategy adopted by then so it can influence our investments.”
What can Aucklanders have their say on?
We want to hear from Aucklanders on the following proposals in the draft Future Development Strategy:
- to focus most of Auckland’s growth in existing urban areas, rather than growing more at the edges of the city
- to focus development near local centres giving people easier access to work, services, facilities and shops by walking, cycling and public transport
- to avoid further growth in areas which are exposed to significant risk of environmental hazards
- to prioritise nature-based infrastructure that responds to the impacts of climate change
Submissions are open from today, 6 June until 31 July 2023. People can make a submission online through the Auckland Council website here.
