11 Sep 2014

Call for more business land in Auckland

7:21 am on 11 September 2014

An Auckland business group believes there is no point in developing houses without looking at where people will work, shop and access other services they need.

Northern Employers and Manufacturers' Association chief executive Kim Campbell said there was already a chronic shortage of land in Auckland available for developing shops, doctors' rooms, warehouses, manufacturing plants and other types of businesses.

Mr Campbell said the council was only planning to make 109 hectares a year available for business development, which was not nearly enough.

He was responding to the government-initiated inquiry that the Productivity Commission will undertake to look at how council rules and processes can be improved both to increase the supply of land and lift the number of houses in existing urban areas.

Mr Campbell said a much more integrated plan for Auckland was needed.

"There's no point having more and more people coming into Auckland if they can't find a place to work, I mean it's just so obvious," he said.

"That detail of planning seems to be left behind and whilst the plan may argue that there is a little bit more land per annum being put aside, relative to the scale of the city that it is going to become in the planning period, the amount is miniscule."

The Auckland Council is aiming for a six percent annual increase in exports from the region during the next 10 years, a five percent increase in real economic growth and a two percent increase in productivity.

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