Is it time for councils to be more active in shaping our cities?

The following is an opinion piece written by William Samuels originally published on Stuff.co.nz and in The Nelson Mail on April 09th 2022.

The RIBA Stirling prize winning Goldsmith Street project by Riches Hawley Mikhail architects, considered an "architectural masterpiece" was built directly by Norwich City Council and is the UK's largest passivhaus scheme. Supplied / Nelson-Mail

Opinion: In the face of unprecedented challenges we need bold, visionary policy from our local institutions, that not only sufficiently caters for our diverse housing needs but also ensures our towns and cities develop into vibrant, liveable spaces.

Last month the Nelson Tasman Future Development Strategy 2022-2052 (FDS) was released for public submissions.

The FDS, jointly prepared by Nelson City Council (NCC) and Tasman District Council (TDC), outlines the strategic growth options that will guide how our region develops over the next 30 years and provide for the 17,000-29,000 new homes projected to be required by 2052.

In analysing how and where these homes will be provided, the FDS calls for large scale ‘greenfield development’ (such as new suburbs), with up to 79 per cent of new homes in the Tasman region being provided in this manner.

The proposed Tasman Village, located between Mapua and Motueka, is a large greenfield development currently being considered by Tasman District Council William Samuels / Nelson-Mail

Nelson, to a lesser degree, is also reliant upon greenfield expansion to cater for its housing growth.

This type of development contributes to our growing sprawl, consumes highly productive land, increases our reliance on cars and limits meaningful growth within our existing urban areas.

Not only does large scale greenfield development of this nature go against the aims of the National Policy Statement on Urban Design (NPS-UD), it also goes against the desires of the local community, who in feedback last year noted an overwhelming "preference for intensification over expansion, particularly as it relates to the protection of highly productive land and accessibility."

Which begs the question, why have our councils adopted this position?

Why not instead focus on providing high quality intensification within our towns and cities to provide a range of housing options closer to where we work, reduce our reliance upon private transport, allow for more affordable housing and provide more liveable urban environments?

It appears to be driven primarily by market forces.

Developers are far more willing to build on greenfield sites as it’s easier and the profit margins higher.

Accordingly, NCC & TDC has assumed a meagre 15 per cent intensification uptake within existing urban areas over the next 30 years.

In response to this low uptake, council has proposed making large areas of highly productive land available for greenfield housing.

A consequence of this is reduced market demand for intensification, further stymying uptake and perpetuating the cycle of ever-increasing suburban sprawl.

The implementation of Nelson’s City Central Spatial Plan (2021) is jeopardised by the extent of greenfield development (particularly that being offered in the Tasman region) as it will draw investment and residents away from the city.

The award-winning Ordnance Road in the UK, designed by Peter Barber Architects, comprises 15 socially rented housing units developed as part of Enfield Council’s housing renewal scheme, supplied / Nelson-Mail

In providing this greenfield land NCC and TDC have adopted a passive approach to the development of our communities and capitulated to the whims of the market.

But there are other approaches available. Council doesn’t have to be a passive bystander and both can and should take a more active role in shaping our region.

In 2020, both NCC and TDC developed Intensification Action Plans to identify strategies that can be undertaken to make urban redevelopment more appealing to developers.

However, these plans didn’t go far enough to address quality intensification or delivery.

In the current FDS, most intensification will likely be delivered via ‘backyard infill’ style housing (where additional units are squeezed into people’s backyards) which is insufficient to meet housing demand plus results in limited amenity and poor urban outcomes.

What our region desperately requires is comprehensive, transformative projects, which are unlikely to be provided by commercial developers alone.

Our councils are uniquely placed in that unlike developers they aren’t focussed solely on profits and are instead mandated to take into consideration much more holistic ideas such as the fostering of communities, greenspace, neighbourhood character, the mix of housing typologies, and affordability.

I suggest that what is needed is the creation of a Nelson Tasman ‘urban regeneration agency,’ a council-controlled organisation [CCO] tasked with facilitating high quality development at a regional level.

Through utilising existing council assets along with strategic land purchases, together with land parcelling, masterplanning, project oversight and infrastructure coordination council could play an active role in ensuring comprehensive intensification that is not only capable of meeting housing demand but also delivers high quality urban outcomes.

This would be delivered through partnerships with both private and public sectors to provide large scale, transformative projects, and smaller, site-specific interventions. Not only does this provide enormous tangible benefits for the community, it can be done as a cost neutral (or even for profit) exercise.

Housing for Older People is a four-storey building in Henderson built by Auckland Council's development arm, Eke Panuku, to address the needs of an aging population SUPPLIED / Nelson-Mail

This is not a new idea- BRANZ published research on the benefits of regional Urban Development Authorities [UDAs] in 2016 and their use has been supported by the Productivity Commission.

Auckland’s UDA, Eke Panuku, partners with public and private entities to deliver transformative projects of a scale and nature that would otherwise be inaccessible to most private developers.

In the 2020 Nelson Intensification Action Plan NCC argued that council is not a housing provider, that they merely provide an ‘enabling environment’ for growth and there are central governmental agencies such as HUD more suited to this role.

But in the face of overwhelming regional challenges such as housing affordability, suburban sprawl and neglected urban areas, we need to rethink this and advocate for local leadership. The alternative, a continual outward expansion of our suburbs, is not the future we want.

Old Papatoetoe Masterplan, developed by Eke Panuku in Auckland, plans to bring at least 260 new, warm, dry, sustainable homes to the area. Supplied / Nelson-Mail

NCC and TDC must reconsider the Future Development Strategy, as passive development is no longer sufficient.

We require an ambitious delivery strategy to increase uptake of intensification within our urban areas, and for our councils to be bold in the collective vision for the future of our region.