We haven’t learned how to do big urban development projects very well in New Zealand. We lack property developers committed to good urban design. We lack the capital markets to fund big projects. Neither central government nor most councils have learned how to unleash the creative potential of the private sector when it comes to big urban developments.
Solving these problems has become more urgent now we have a unified Auckland that aspires to building a world class city. Which is why the circumstances around the new Westgate development in Auckland’s north-west are particularly unfortunate. Two government agencies, Transport Agency NZ and Transpower, have been obstructing a new town centre development tipped to generate 10,000 jobs and increase the country’s GDP by $2 bn a year by 2051.
The development borders on the Te Atatu electorate where I am based. Those jobs and the impressive planned new town centre, will be a huge benefit not only to the people of Massey but all of the West.
I am amazed how NZTA has refused to build motorway ramps to service the northern end of the new town centre even though the Council has offered to pay for them. NZTA is stuck in the mindset that the new Hobsonville motorway and extension to Kumeu opened with fanfare on the weekend is fundamentally a bypass to allow people from the north to get to the airport more quickly, and bugger the idea that it should support the huge new commercial hub being built at Westgate.
Transpower has also been a nightmare for the development to deal with. The high voltage power cable obviously has to be underground but they have sheeted home the full cost to the development, causing numerous delays while refusing to sign a contract that gives certainty. Meanwhile the cost has gone from $5 m to around $20 m.
The developer NZRPG are the only NZ-owned firm who do these big retail developments. They have spent more than five years putting together the plans in conjunction with the Council, not just plonking a new mall out there but designing a town centre based on good urban design principles. They have put $228 m of their own money into it. The least the Government could do is act supportive.
That is why I have written to John Key asking him to intervene and tell NZTA and Transpower to pull their heads in. After all, it is in his electorate.
In Question Time today Steven Joyce said NZTA was in talks with the developer and progress was being made on the question of the ramps. About bloody time after five years of obstruction.
Five years….hmmm let me think who the Government was for at least two and a half of those?
Yes it is true Labour was in Government when the first sod was turned on the Hobsonville motorway project. How long ago that seems! And in the years that followed Waitakere City and NZRPG did their best to negotiate with both Transit as it was then, and Transpower. Months and years passed.Could the Labour Govt have done more to ensure those agencies actively supported the project? I dont know. But I do know that five years has passed, that National is the Government now and therefore has the power to do something about this fiasco. And Jeff if that is all you’ve got it is not much of a contribution.
An excerpt from the article which appears to have been glossed over Phil “That is because the Northwestern Motorway extension will have no off-ramps between Brigham Creek Rd and Lincoln Rd in Henderson until the Transport Agency is satisfied population growth can justify the expense”.
Exactly. If you get on the mway at Kumeu, you cannot get off until Lincoln Rd. NZTA have been talking about putting the ramps in in 30 years time. Meanwhile the town centre will accommodate more retail than Albany and Sylvia Park combined. TA refusing to put in ramps at the northern end won’t exactly fill the retailers with confidence.
Based on my understandinf, you can get to Westgate coming from the City and from Hosonville. It is only when coming from further West that you can not accesss Westgate via the Motorway. Given the old Helensville rd will be greatly reduced, it will be easy enough to get to the Shopping centre in my view
I assume there is an alternative route.
“Big urban development”
Do you mean shopping centres.
The senselessness of growth for business opportunity alone is profound and wasteful.
Alleged “job creation” needs qualification in terms of community good. Job displacement is often more accurate.
Sustainable communities are the hall mark of good developments – if development is needed for other than business interests.
Useful production to meet basic needs, with compact communities providing housing, services, community spaces, recreational facilities and employment all with minimal need to travel .
Smaller scale communities minimising travel and transportation, have a better chance of a sustainable future particularly if well designed to include the majority of community needs.
The Retail Sector is hardly the starting point for community design.
The outlook from 2011 on is different to the “business as usual ” model with limits to growth on many fronts: locally, nationally and world wide.
Absolutely, A state highway (formerly) that will now have massively reduced traffic flows
I dont really see what the problem is. The local area has easy access from Hobsonville Rd.
Te Atatu residents have on and off ramps ok.
The only people who have a problem is those Kumeu north.
Im sure the traffic modelling showed this not to be worth the cost.
Trust it to be a developer who wants more motorway traffic.
cest la vie.
John – No I dont mean shopping centres. I mean integrated urban development. The plan for Westgate is not a mall. It is a town centre with open space, public amenities including a library, alongside other pieces to be rolled out including significant retail, commercial and industrial development. As I understand it the original impetus was to generate jobs in West Auckland which has the highest rate in the region of people having to commute out of the area for work.
jeff, GWW – Sure there are alternative routes but it is about making it easy for people so they choose to go there. NZTA’s argument that the population projections don’t justify the ramps now are like Steven Joyce’s arguments that we shouldnt invest in public transport because 85% of Aucklanders travel to work by car. If you don’t get the transport infrastructure right, people won’t come and you undermine the economics of the development. The Council gets it, and has earmarked the money to fund the ramps.
Phil thanks for your reply , but you are missing the point, public transport is a different issue and is cheaper in my mind rather than putting in more motorways in built up city areas.
The area that is ‘missing out’ is a rural one and the time /cost benefit doesnt stack up and even for motorway on off ramps there are higher priorities with similar projects.
I dont think your approach ( and Auckland Council) of throwing money at a project makes sense.
Doesnt the council want an inner city rail loop- which I certainly do- then gold plating every road junction just cuts into money they could use for this project.
Out of interest, Phil, is this the first salvo of Labour’s new on-ramps policy?
Because you really seem to have hit onto a hot button issue that is a real concern for every day NZers during these heady times. Can’t wait for the full policy to be announced!
Sarcasm mode off – seems to me that there are plenty of people who know the Te Atatu electorate far better than you do, and they are telling you that this isn’t an issue. Take it on the chin and move on.
Good work Phil, its pretty clear that non-Westies have not cottoned on to the fact that West Auckland has a huge employment deficit meaning that most of us Westies travel North, South and East to get to work. Waitakere Council tried to point this out to the old ARC for years and were met with stonewalling. NZTA refused to allow the developer to put in off ramps- even though he offered to pay. Did not happen at Sylvia Park.
The other issue of concern to Westies is the lack of another crossing of the Whau River which would allow access to the Rosebank Industrial Area for people from Henderson, Glen Eden, Te Atatu. Not only would this help people get access to another important zone of employment but it would have major time saving benefits by making the CBD more accessible to people living in those araes. We spend Billions widening SH16 but then ignore much cheaper beneficial local road projects that not only save travel time, save money and improve amenity for everyone. Why does all of the West Auckland traffic have to be funnelled through the Te Atatu interchange? Why has this project been ignored for so long?
Jackboot Joyce seems to have no problem instructing NZTA on what road to build. Holiday highway? Kopu bridge? And what rail tunnel not to build? So what, indeed, does he have against this development? Surely it cannot be pecuniary? Still, it was good that he promised in the House to get the talks between NZRPG and NZTA sorted out, so let’s see if can keep his word?
I can not see what needs to be sorted. It is not necessary nor does it make economic sense to build the off ramp at this time.
@ jeff, game is up. Now obvious who calls your tune.
A dissenting voice…. clearly I must be on the National Governments Payroll!
I presume this will just another big box/strip mall to blight the landscape. Its the worst sort of urban development.
We seem to have learnt nothing about scale and yet the Auckland Council has money to burn to help out the developer
It already is that !
TopCat – Agree with you re a bridge over the Whau. A bridge from Hepburn Rd over the Whau to Rosebank Rd has been included in the city plans but it is basically on the never never. It makes sense for the reasns you say. In my proposal for a North West Busway, I also advocate a Green Bridge over the Whau for buses, pedestrians and cyclists, linking to a Rosebank Rd bus station on the Busway.
GWW – You presume wrong my friend. Have a look at the plans http://westgateshoppingcentre.co.nz/future-plans. One of the reasons Waitakere City worked so hard and long with NZRPG was because they were prepared to embrace new urbanism, and build a town centre (not a mall).
Well Phil its a true marvel of the CG art you refer to.
Of course the existing Westgate centre was going to be a wonder ranking with St Lukes in the planning stage. But when it came to building that was all ditched and we have the glorified strip mall that exists now.
Sylvia Park concepts were a wonderful to behold at first, but of course the residential and office parts seem to have disappeared once the builders started.
Its a clever game they all play with the council planners, a little bit of this, a little of that to get overall bulk and platform approved, then they dig a mighty hole like at the Soho Square and then say we need all the extras removed to ‘make it work’.
“Auckland City Council gave consent to plans for the original – an “urban village” – which included about 18,600sq m of commercial office space, 4300sq m of retail, 3000sq m of cafes and restaurants and an entertainment area of 2000sq m, which has been earmarked for cinemas, and a 1250-bay, five-level basement carpark.”
The real plan is to get all that green belt farmland around the new motorway and up to Whenupai rezoned into industrial maker all the land bankers very very rich.
Meanwhile at Soho Sq a disillusioned observer watches and waits now its likely to become a ‘supermarket’ and horrors a Warehouse
GWW – There is no shortage of developments gone bad in this town. But what are you going to do? Don’t attempt developments? The West needs local jobs. Auckland needs to accommodate the projected growth (50% increase by 2040). I think central and local government need to work with good developers on ambitious projects based on the best urban design principles, adequately capitalised, and supported by public transport infrastructure. We need to build town centres, not malls, and as well as public space and amenities they need commercial and industrial activity built-in so people have jobs.