The planners of a proposed development in the Auckland suburb of Papakura say the Government is dragging its feet on giving them the all-clear to push ahead with their proposal.
They would like their plans for the eco-friendly housing development called Sunfield to be approved under the Government's Urban Development Act (UDA), which was created to fast-track developments outside of the Resource Management Act.
But developers Winton Property Group have accused state landlord Kāinga Ora, which administers the Urban Development Act, of declining its proposal without properly considering it.
Winton Property Ground chief executive Chris Meehan said the development would create 5000 new homes and 11,000 jobs.
"Within the project, there's about 50ha of land that can accommodate about 250,000sqm of factories and offices and retail shops and so-on," Meehan told AM. "That development alone will generate 11,000 permanent jobs."
But Meehan has accused Government officials of saying there were "too busy" to discuss fast-tracking the development.
Kāinga Ora declined to comment, given the matter was before the court, after Winton launched legal action in October. In a statement at the time, Kāinga Ora said it "must have confidence that progressing a development under this legislation is appropriate for the development".
The information Winton provided about the development "did not provide this confidence", Kāinga Ora urban planning and design general manager Katija Lietz said in the November statement.
That was why the state landlord "did not support progressing the development proposal through the Specified Development Project assessment process", Lietz said.
But Meehan told AM Winton had the capability and the money to fulfill the project.
"We do this all the time - we're used to operating at this scale," he said.
"We're not asking the Government for any money - all we're asking them for is to get on and get going."
In its legal proceedings against Kāinga Ora, Winton alleged the state landlord "refuses to use its statutory powers to facilitate property developments like Sunfield which are led by the private sector, and instead reserves those UDA powers for its own benefit, misusing its market power".
It comes as Auckland continues to be gripped by a housing crisis, with rental shortages in the super city exacerbated by recent flooding.
"The Government, to their credit, they introduced… the UDA and that was designed to fast-track these big, huge projects but sitting here today, we're nearly 550 days in and we haven't got the green light for them to even process our application," Meehan told AM.
His message to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was to "sit down with us, have a conversation… let's get going".
"He wants houses, he wants clean and green transport solutions, he wants jobs and he wants private investment - Sunfield is all four of those things wrapped up into one."
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