Media Release: NZ Initiative praises Prod Comm's planning report
Wellington (29 March 2017): The Productivity Commission’s latest report underscores the importance of a fit-for-purpose planning system, and just how far the current arrangements are from this ideal state, says The New Zealand Initiative.
The Better Urban Planning report details how the current planning framework, principally the Resource Management Act 1991, has failed to achieve the economic flexibility and environmental protections it set out to achieve. Instead the commission is proposing a substantial overhaul of the planning system.
“After 26 years the costs of the RMA can be counted in the number of houses that haven’t been built, and it is a burden that younger generations increasingly bear in the form of high house prices,” said Dr Oliver Hartwich, Executive Director at The New Zealand Initiative.
“Over that same period the RMA has been amended every 18-months on average, highlighting just how pointless further tinkering is. It hasn’t worked for New Zealand’s cities, nor has it provided the level of environmental protection that many New Zealanders expect.”
“It is time to start over by carrying over the good parts of the act, and throwing the rest away, which is exactly the framework that the Productivity Commission has proposed.”
Hartwich praised the report’s recommendations, which include establishing competitive urban land markets, cutting unnecessary red tape from the system, and addressing the local infrastructure affordability problem.
“Key to solving the housing affordability crisis will be to incentivise councils to embrace growth. Too often councils see development as a cost, which is why they trickle out infrastructure.”
“Meanwhile, central government has been content to sit on the sidelines, clipping the ticket on economic growth. The effects of this policy are writ large in our cities, with congested highways and astronomical house prices. It is time that central government shouldered its fair share of the burden.”
Housing affordability is one of the Initiative’s key research streams, and has published five reports on the topic. These include:
- Priced Out: How New Zealand lost its housing affordability
- Different places, different means: Why some countries build more than others
- Free to Build: Restoring New Zealand's housing affordability
- Up or Out: Examining the trade-offs of urban form
- Empty nests, crowded houses: Building for an ageing population
ENDS
Dr Oliver Hartwich is available for comment. Please contact:
Media contact
Simone White, Communications Officer
The New Zealand Initiative
Phone: +64 4 494 9109
Mobile: +64 21 2937 250
Email: simone.white@nzinitiative.org.nz