Newspaper Article 1994 – Fertile land proposed for housing

Fertile land proposed for housing

Consultants have advised the Hastings District Council to allow houses on some of the most fertile land in New Zealand.

The council has been told that, as part of its urban development strategy, it should give permission for 70ha of land in the Lyndhurst Road area to be used for housing.

The consultant, Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner, has also recommended seven other areas in the district be used to accommodate an expected increase in demand for housing.

The consultancy estimates that another 3000 houses will be required in the district by the year 2016.

About 15 per cent of these are expected to be built on existing house sites that could be subdivided. The consultancy will present a report on its findings to councillors at their meeting on February 24.

770 sections

Redeveloping the Lyndhurst Rd land would give up to another 770 sections, the report said.

The subdivision would be staged.

There would be another 30ha available in the area if demand exceeded expectations.

The other recommended development areas are. –

* Irongate/York: There is a capacity of 320 sites, but it is expected only 200 would be required during the next 25 years.

* Brookvale/Te Mata: A total of 1010 sites could be used by 2016.

* Havelock Hills: 100 sites.

* Clive: 90 new sites and up to 70 as the result of infill development.

* Te Awanga: 50 new sites.

* Parkhill: 75 lots.

* Maraekakaho: Encouragement of more intense residential use within the “rural locality” zoning.

Lyndhurst Rd was the most practical long-term development area in Hastings, the report said.

“Detailed investigations have failed to identify a viable alternative to the Lyndhurst area which has less impact upon productive soils and still offers the same natural and infrastructural advantages,” it said.

“Other options are also less likely to satisfy predominant market demand.

Maximum protection

“Careful subdivision layout will be necessary to protect sensitive viticultural activities on the north-eastern fringe of Havelock North, and staging of development can be utilised at Lyndhurst to programme the release of land and afford maximum protection to remaining horticultural activities.

“The study has also examined demand for marae housing, and it is concluded that the existing district plan provisions for this are not sufficiently flexible to accommodate the level of development anticipated during the next 25 years.

“A strategy of minimal intervention is recommended in this regard, with emphasis being placed on the need for marae committees to develop their own resource management plans to steer development on Maori land.”

The report said the council had become increasingly concerned about conflicts between rural and urban activities.

It was recommended that a “right to farm” approach be adopted to provide the policy framework for managing land use on the fringe of the plains.

These management methods were suggested to give certainty both to farmers and residents.

* The use of buffer strips next to all new residential development adjacent to viticulture or horticulture. An effective buffer should have a width of not less than 25 metres.

* The introduction of a minimum noise standard in consultation with farmer representatives and an acoustic expert.

* Where poorer quality soils be between urban uses and productive uses, permit lifestyle development with minimum lot sizes of at least 3ha and a requirement for ample separation (60 to 80 metres) between houses and zone boundaries.

The Heretaunga Plains offered some of the most valuable productive potential in New Zealand, and as a matter of national importance the council was obliged to sustain the ability of it, the report said.

Farmers’ opposed

Hawke’s Bay Federated Farmers executive officer Ron Rowe said the organisation’s stand was clear: “No productive land should be built on – fullstop.”

A key to any decision was the preparation of land capability and soils-use maps which could be referred to whenever any proposal for development came up, Mr Rowe said.

“Then we would be able to say that the land is good for this or that use and should not be used for housing or vice versa.” Mr Rowe said the president of Hawke’s Bay Federated Farmers, Tim Plummer, had been a member of the district council’s land-use committee and consultation with rural people had been excellent.

“The suggestion which the mayor, Jeremy Dwyer, made the other day about the use of land alongside the council buildings for residential development was excellent.

“There is no need to use productive land for housing when there is plenty of infill and less productive land available.”

Photo caption – Lyndhurst Rd area could provide 770 sections.

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Business / Organisation

Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner, Hastings District Council

Format of the original

Newspaper article

Date published

7 February 1994

Acknowledgements

Published with permission of Hawke's Bay Today

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Accession number

700282

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