Transport improvements key to success in southern growth areas

The adoption of the Drury-Opaheke and Pukekohe-Paerata structure plans has highlighted the critical role the area has to support Auckland’s population growth.

About forty-five per cent of Auckland’s future urban land is around Drury and Pukekohe and an estimated 35,000 dwellings will be built over the next 30 years. The adoption of the structure plans now paves the way for land to be zoned for development.

As Penny Pirrit, Auckland Council’s Director of Urban Growth and Housing explains, managing this growth in a way that considers the needs of both developers and residents is a delicate balancing act.

“First and foremost, our goal is to enable faster delivery of housing within strong communities where there is the social and physical infrastructure, particularly public transport, in place to support people to thrive."

“During the development of the structure plan we had a number of landowners wanting to bring forward live-zoning of Drury land that isn’t due to be development ready until at least 2028."