By Charlotte Cook of RNZ

State housing agency Kāinga Ora is pushing for radical changes to Wellington’s housing rules including wiping protections for character buildings and allowing more development on flood-prone land.

Documents show it has spent $800,000 on lawyers, planners and architects to help its submissions on the city council’s district plan.

Critics fear the agency would be able to drown out the voices of local people who do not have such deep pockets.

No protection for character houses, allowing buildings heights to increase by over 50 per cent, permitting more shade on neighbouring properties and ditching the legal requirements for flood mapping are just some of the hundreds of changes Kāinga Ora is proposing for the capital.

The District Plan is being fully reviewed with commissioners hearing from submitters about how Wellington can house more people.

Jane O’Loughlin from advocacy group LIVEWellington called the state landlord’s submission ridiculous and a waste of money.

“It seems way over the top for what is required.

 “As well as the money, what we have been shocked by is what Kāinga Ora is asking for as part of the District Plan.

“They are asking for extreme changes to the planning laws, which most Wellingtonians would not be aware of, and they go way beyond the scope of the discussion that’s already been had about the District Plan.”

O’Loughlin said Kāinga Ora has an unfair advantage.

“Most people would not be aware that they are asking for these, and they have the might of their lawyers, planners and architects, $800,000 worth on their side and opposing them are just small community groups like our own, who are really struggling to keep up.”

Council officials have already rejected most of what Kāinga Ora is asking for, but the commissioners can make up their own minds and may take a different view, O’Loughlin said.

“Even though their requests are quite extreme, we are concerned the commissioners will be obliged to take them seriously just because they’ve turned up and asked for this with a lot of expert evidence on their side.”

She was most worried about building heights.

Height limits were likely to go up anyway and even more radical change was not needed, she said.

“Even as proposed, the District Plan is quite a big change from what we have at the moment, and that’s because we want to see more people living centrally in more dense situations than before, but what Kāinga Ora is suggesting is even greater heights right across the city, which would result in quite a strange outcome of high rise buildings popping up across the city in quite an unplanned way.”

O’Loughlin said the agency wants to almost triple the proposed building heights in Miramar to nine storeys, allow 11-storey housing in Johnsonville, Aro Valley, and Kilbirne and 14 in Mt Victoria.

Kāinga Ora said it was taking part in a statutory process as it was allowed to do. It said it was doing its job and is committed to working with councils.

“As the government’s urban development authority, Kāinga Ora has the mandate to enable, facilitate and deliver much-needed public, market and affordable housing across Aotearoa in a way that allows for future growth.”

It also defended the $800,000 spend.

“Our spend on the Wellington District Plan covers the time spent on the current process, and also part of the costs incurred engaging on the council’s earlier draft, spanning several years.”

The Wellington City Council said the commissioners’ final decisions about the District Plan changes were expected to be made in March next year.

- RNZ