Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby is supporting the proposed government requirement for councils to ensure land supply for housing and business keeps pace with growth.

Stuart believes the National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity will force high growth regions and make sure the planning tools are in place to cater for that growth.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby.

'The part I do also support is that the minister has made sure we look at what can actually be developed, not what can theoretically be developed.

'Often planners might say theoretically they can put 5000 homes in an area where the reality is you can only put in 3000. I totally support that.”

Stuart says the one thing that is not included in the initiative and needs to be addressed is 'the cost of infrastructure for these future growth areas”.

'The issue of land banking is yet to be addressed which is an impediment to the release of land. This is where developers and land owners sit on it after it's been zoned residential.

'And in Tauranga, covenants - which put requirements on building sites to build high quality homes. So there is a lot still to be addressed but overall we are in good shape to comply with this new proposal.”

Stuart attended a briefing with Housing Minister Nick Smith in Wellington on Thursday.

The proposal requires councils to ensure land supply for housing and business keeps pace with growth, Environment, Building and Housing, says the Minister.

The new policy is intended to tackle the long-term root cause of New Zealand's housing affordability problems.

Insufficient land supply in Auckland has seen median section prices rise from $100,000 in 1990 to $450,000 now – an increase of 350 per cent.

In the same time, building costs rose 78 per cent and the Consumer Price Index 71 per cent.

The high section price compounds the affordability problem because the built home will also be highly priced.

Councils not only have to provide sufficient land, but monitor and respond to housing affordability data, building and resource consent data, and value of land on the urban boundaries.

'I think it is sensible planning to make sure that land is provided as we move forward,” says Stuart.

'At the moment of course it is in conjunction with RMA reforms which are well down the track. It's important that they go hand in hand.”

The RMA reforms are also about speeding things up, says Stuart.

'They are looking for some new initiatives as well. Things called urban development authorities, that's where council sets the planning rules but another organisation actually rolls it out. That could speed up the delivery in my view.”

The government is also looking at a unit titles review which is to do with apartments, and Building Act reform.

'They have done a lot already. I guess what we are calling for in local government is a collaborative approach on housing issues up and down New Zealand.

'Local government, central government and the private sector working together to resolve all these issues – as opposed to ‘here's another piece of legislation you must comply with'.

The national policy statement fits in nicely with SmartGrowth, the Western Bay of Plenty growth strategy where local authorities and other players across the region have for 13 years been co-ordinating the region's housing land supply.