Articles
The Diary of a Debacle: The Slum Enabling Act and Other Matters
(24/11/21) Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Distinguished Fellow and past Chair Urban Auckland, Julie Stout, critiques the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.
Read the article on Architecture Now.
What is the price of sunlight? Householders face losing billions under intensification rules
(19/11/2021) Radio New Zealand's Phil Pennington finds householders face losing over a billion dollars worth of sunlight and views under radical housing intensification law change.
Read the article on Radio New Zealand.
Housing intensification bill could result in demolition waste from thousands of houses
(18/11/2021) Legislation allowing at least three houses to be built on one section is likely to "significantly increase" in demolition waste to landfill.
Read the article on Radio New Zealand.
Concerns over fast-tracked changes to urban density rules
(18/11/2021) There are major changes planned for our big cities that'll remove restrictions on intensification and see more houses growing skyward - but have some worried it'll mean the end of privacy and quality living standards. Radio New Zealand's Kathryn Ryan talks to former Auckland Council planner Simon O'Connor, and Ekin Sakin, a Christchurch-based architect and committee member with the Urban Design Forum.
Listen to the Nine to Noon interview.
New Zealand rushes in on upzoning where Australia fears to tread
Some of the unintended consequences of upzoning without design controls, including yet more windfall gains for homeowners.
Read the article in the Fifth Estate.
Daylight Robbery
Issues with the Medium Density Residential Standards, including diagrams on sun light planes, by planner Allison Tindale.
City council pushes for change to Government's new housing rules
Christchurch civic leaders are fighting back against the Government's 'blunt, one-size-fits-all' approach to housing. Read the article on Stuff.
Will the housing reforms work?
Sam Stubbs, the chief executive of KiwiSaver fund Simplicity, looks at whether the removal of resource consent from residential home builds will produce the numbers the government wants. Read the article on Stuff.
The Great Divide
Rebecca MacFie meticulously traces the real reasons for the housing crisis in this North & South article.
Old or Green: Is the Greenest House an old one?
Brenda and Robert Vale present as part of Wellington Heritage Week. 10 min video
Planning for the market to decide
Felicity Wong opinion piece. Read it on Scoop.
Resources
Making light rail work for Wellington
In a public talk hosted by LIVE WELLington, Brent Efford of the Light Rail Transit Association and Demetrius Christoforou of Trams Action made a strong case for changes to the current light rail proposals for Wellington.
Access their slides and presentation materials here.
Wellington City Councillors - table of housing and planning policies
LIVE WELLington has extracted the 'housing and planning' promises put forward by councillors during the 2022 and collated them into a table.
Councillors' housing and planning promises
Survey of Wellington City Council candidates - housing and character, September 2022
LIVE WELLington surveyed candidates standing for Wellington City Council to see how their views on housing and character stacked up against the survey we ran earlier in the year with the general public.
Submission on the proposed District Plan, September 2022
LIVE WELLington's main submission on the proposed District Plan is to call for the expansion of the character suburbs, on the basis that the council's reports show sufficient housing capacity exists in the inner city suburbs already to accommodate projected housing need to 2050, meaning there is the leeway to retain more of the pre-1930s character protection and the character housing that is part of Wellington's identity.
Access the LIVE WELLington submission on the proposed District Plan. This is accompanied by several appendices:
- Research New Zealand survey
- Officers' recommended character areas from spatial plan consultation
- Heritage New Zealand submission on draft District Plan
Presentation on the Proposed District Plan, 4 August 2022
A presentation to LIVE WELLington by Adam McCutcheon from Wellington City Council.
Survey on the opinions of renters and home owners of housing in Wellington, June 2022
A survey carried out by Research New Zealand for LIVE WELLington, on the views of a representative group of Welingtonians, around housing, character areas and council performance.
Population shift: provinces rise, urbans fall
Infometrics report on changing population. Read the analysis on the Infometrics website.
Hometown Boomtown documentary about demolitions in 1980s
Full Submission Guide for Draft District Plan
This Guide is for you if you have time and interest to write your own submission but aren't sure where to start
Submission Supplement for Draft District Plan
This Supplement will help you add submission points on key city-wide topics to your existing submission on local issues
TLDR Submission Form for Draft District Plan
Download this Form, add your details and email to the Council if you only have 5 minutes. It's an MS Word document so you can add more if you want.