Draft Auckland Spatial Plan

Later today the draft Auckland Spatial Plan (which seems to have morphed into being called simply the ‘Auckland Plan‘) will be notified for submission. Earlier this year a discussion document about general ideas of what should be in the plan was consulted upon – known as ‘Auckland Unleashed‘. That document gave us some broad ideas about what the Auckland Plan will look like, although it was certainly structured as a discussion document rather than a Plan – so it will be interesting to see where the council has fallen on particularly contentious issues: not only in terms of transport but also in relation to urban form.

While the exact ways in which the Plan will be implemented, especially in terms of its relationship with plans prepared under the Resource Management Act, remains to be seen, it seems pretty clear that the Auckland Plan will be a critical document in guiding much of the planning work that Auckland Council will undertake over the next 10 years and beyond. Here’s where it fits compared to other plans and strategies: In terms of transport, the Auckland Unleashed document spelled out three options:

OPTION 1 : THE RLTS AS ADOPTED IN 2010

The RLTS aims to develop a transport system which supports a compact urban form consisting of centres, corridors and rural settlements. It provides for improvements in each mode of transport, with an emphasis on public transport, walking and cycling. It has a focus on travel demand management, rather than a ‘predict and provide’ approach, to encourage more people to walk, cycle, use public transport, share car trips and to work, shop and play locally where possible. It identifies projects of high regional significance and identifies the need for additional funding and a reallocation of funding.

Completion of the planned state highway network is also identified as a priority in the first 10 years, in accordance with the approach taken in the current Government Policy Statement, along with improving the operation of existing roads.

OPTION 2 : THE RLTS, WITH ADJUSTMENTS TO FIT WITHIN THE OVERALL CURRENT FUNDING ENVELOPE FOR TRANSPORT

This approach would limit the number of new transport infrastructure projects on the assumption that not all the projects could be funded. This approach may require choices between some of the large transport projects, and would rely to a large extent on existing infrastructure and a travel demand management approach to achieve the desired outcomes. If this option is tied towards achieving particular targets, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or becoming an economic powerhouse, prioritisation of projects would be affected. This option could be described as a network management approach.

This approach needs to be modelled to understand the effects of a network management approach. This would need to be done once there is agreement about prioritisation criteria for applying limited funding to transport projects.

OPTION 3 : THE RLTS, WITH 3 RAIL PROJECTS BEING BROUGHT FORWARD

By bringing forward the City Centre Rail Link, as well as rail to the airport and rail on the North Shore, a strong commitment is being made for growth to be based around public transport. This would require significant reallocation of investment in rail and land use to support these projects and could also require some state highway projects to be deferred to make available funding for these three rail projects. This option could be described as a rapid transit approach.

Work needs to progress to full understanding of the costs and benefits of these rail projects and to future-proof the routes. The City Centre Rail Link Business Case is being checked for robustness. That review is expected to be completed by the end of April 2011. The Business Case assumes the City Centre Rail Link will be operational by 2021 at an indicative cost of around $2 billion. The rail to the airport is subject to an investigation, which is progressing through to December 2011. Indicative costs could be around $2 billion depending on the extent of connections. Investigations have been carried out regarding the connection of rail to the North Shore, but the route on the North Shore needs to align with the area where the growth is expected. Costs of rail in the North Shore are likely to be far greater than the other two rail projects, and would vary, depending on whether heavy or light rail is used and whether or not the route follows the Northern busway route. Under current funding options, pursuit of this option could leave Auckland with critical gaps in its motorway/arterial network.

One would imagine that we’re likely to see a modified version of Option 3 being chosen, perhaps with more focus being on the City Rail Link and a bit less focus on rail to the airport and North Shore – but with securing their alignments being prioritised.

In terms of urban form decisions, obvious the big question will be whether, and where, the Metropolitan Urban Limits will be relaxed to allow further greenfield ‘sprawl’ development. A few articles in the media a couple of weeks ago suggested that the MUL will be kept largely intact, but with a greater focus being placed on developing Warkworth and Pukekohe as satellite centres. The draft document suggested more sprawl to the northwest and to the south – it will be interesting to see whether that has been modified, contracted or expanded.

It seems likely that the draft Plan will be posted here on the Auckland Council website at some stage today. You can make submissions on the plan over the next month. Draft versions of the City Centre Master Plan and the Waterfront Plan will also be released for consultation today, as they form critical parts of the overall Auckland Plan. I will be posting more on them over the next few days.

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