Auckland needs infrastructure investment to support intensification

This is a letter to Auckland Council elected members sent on Tuesday the 6th of December 2023

Intensification is occurring across most of the Auckland urban area, delivering greater housing choice, improved affordability and lower carbon living.

We need to keep going with investment in infrastructure to support new housing in existing communities, and keep up with population growth.

The Coalition for More Homes is concerned with reports that important infrastructure projects in Auckland are being put on hold. Investment in civil and transport infrastructure is crucial for housing intensification, supporting sustainable growth in our neighbourhoods.

One example of this is in Point Chevalier. There is a rumoured delay to infrastructure investment, the Point Chevalier to Westmere Improvements. Point Chevalier is already seeing dozens of developments from small townhouse developments to larger apartment developments. This growing neighbourhood needs fit for purpose infrastructure to support growth.

While often referred to as a cycleway project, it will deliver much more than this including a new southbound bus lane on Point Chevalier Road towards Great North Road. This section already has 10 buses an hour in each direction. The bus lane will support more reliable journey times and easier connection to Great North Road bus corridor. The streetscape improvements will include new street trees improving urban amenity and mitigating the urban heat island effect.

Meola Road, which was famously built on a landfill in the 1930s, is at the end of its lifespan and needs to be rebuilt. The addition of the cycle lane during this construction is a sensible step to support transport choice for local journeys and commutes by bike. Point Chevalier already has one of the highest bike to school mode shares in the region. Adding safe cycle routes will support more children to travel safely to school and reduce traffic in the peak hours.

This project is just one example of the dozens of projects either planned or awaiting construction to start which our communities need as soon as possible to support population growth.

Other projects, to name a few include:

Eastern Busway. This investment will support growth in East Auckland, through a new Rapid Transit connection - it is one of the only sub-areas of Auckland without a Rapid Transit service.

Henderson Cycle network. The Henderson-Massey Local Board area has the highest building consents of all local boards

Bus service improvements signalled in the Regional Public Transport Plan and Climate Action Targeted Rate.

Grade separation of rail crossings in Takaanini to enable trains to run at higher frequencies on the Southern Line post completion of the City Rail Link

We ask Auckland Council to continue to support these planned projects and the broader infrastructure pipeline which is crucial to supporting the thousands of new homes planned and under construction across Tāmaki Makaurau.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Coalition for More Homes

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