Winton when Kāinga Ora turned its proposal this week. The company revealed that it had been informed by the Crow housing agency that the 5000-home development will not be accepted for consideration under the Government’s new Urban Development Act (UDA).
The Act provides access to a streamline approval process for specified development projects (SDPs), with the aim of tackling long-term barriers in urban development in the country. The agency’s decision to reject Winton’s application was described as “bafflingly contradictory” by the company’s chief executive Chris Meehan, who said the “frustrating response” appeared to “undermine” the Government’s intention to accelerate housing developments in New Zealand.
“It is very difficult to understand how Kāinga Ora wasn’t able to even accept this application for consideration. On the face of it, we have met all 10 of the criteria laid out by the agency,” he said.
According to Meehan, despite the fact that the UDA framework was set up last year in order to deal with large-scale developments like Sunfield, Winton’s project was referred back to the old Resource Management Act, which he says is “broken”. Accordingly, the property developer is now seeking “urgent meetings” with New Zealand’s Housing Minister Megan Woods, and Finance Minister Grant Robertson, company’s CEO said.
