More planning needed in development

• Published date: 28 May 2023
• Publication title: Herald on Sunday

Recently I haven’t liked Auckland. I don’t say that lightly, but I feel angry that a city with so much going for it has so much wrong with it

If we haven’t all returned to the office post-Covid, then why are the roads so insanely busy on my morning and afternoon commute? It’s not like we have had an influx of new residents, but this would be the worst traffic that I have ever seen.

My beautiful suburb of Te Atatū Peninsula is losing its character. I am all for more housing and I don’t mind higher density, but what is being built seems to be of low quality, doesn’t include parking and much of it is just plain ugly.

I really hope that there are changes to our housing density rules. There are many examples where good design and access to public transport support high density, and places where green fields are ready to be built on.

When we talk about greenfields, we envisage all of our farms becoming suburbs, but of course that isn’t the reality.

I was the MP for Hobsonville Point, it is an example of high density done well. It was well-planned. Infrastructure was put in before the housing and they demanded high standards and green spaces. I think because nearly all of it is high and medium density, it looks and feels better than the haphazard cheap stuff that is going up in our communities.

Drury is a development that just makes sense. Look what they did over the hill...