Search

Strong progress on building and section consents in the Wakatipu Basin has led to Queenstown-Lakes Housing Accord targets being increased nearly 50 per cent during the next two years, Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith says.

Dr Smith and Queenstown-Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden released the revised figures after discussions today, saying they would go from 950 to 1400 for the remaining two years of the accord.

The Government’s proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity will require councils to ensure land supply for housing and business keeps pace with growth, Environment, Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith says.

Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith and Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) today joined legal proceedings over appeals lodged against the $1.2 billion redevelopment of the Three Kings quarry in Auckland.

“I am taking this unusual step of joining proceedings to support the Auckland Council and Fletcher Residential because of the size and significance of the project and to make a firm stand in favour of these sorts of plan changes that are needed to address Auckland’s growth and housing problems,” Dr Smith says as Environment Minister.

A Bill will be introduced to Parliament to give the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel more flexibility and help it meet its statutory deadline, Environment and Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith and Auckland Mayor Len Brown announced today. 

Auckland’s first comprehensive recycling facility for building industry waste was opened today by Environment, and Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith.

“This new recycling facility is about greening the building industry, enabling 30,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste to be diverted from going to landfill. It will enable thousands of tonnes of wood, plasterboard, steel, plastics and aggregates from the construction sector to be sorted and re-processed into a reusable form,” Dr Smith says.

The lectern and backdrop for this, my 20th annual speech to Nelson Rotary is the 80,000 pages of council resource management plans and rules. If in a single pile it would stand ten metres tall and probably require a resource consent for breaching local height restrictions. This mountain of red tape well illustrates the need for an overhaul of the Resource Management Act.

Overhauling the Resource Management Act (RMA) is critical to addressing housing supply and affordability, and maintaining the momentum of economic and job growth as well as better managing New Zealand’s environment, Dr Nick Smith said today in his 20th annual speech to Nelson Rotary. 
 

The Resource Management Act needs to explicitly recognise the importance of New Zealanders’ access to more affordable housing if the downward trend in home ownership over the past 20 years is to be reversed, Building and Housing, and Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith said today at the Property Council New Zealand’s Residential Development Summit in Auckland.