We are growing…and fast!
We are fortunate to live in a district where people want to live, work, play and invest. By 2034, we’re expecting 74,1651 people to call Waipā home.
That means more than another 7,000 new houses will be needed over the nine year period, and they will house an average of 2.4 people – that's down from the occupancy rate of 2.58 used previously.
But it is not only homes we plan for as we continue to build connected communities, it’s workplaces too. We’re expecting significant demand for industrial development so we’ve provided 130 hectares of land for industrial and commercial development in Cambridge and Te Awamutu, with further development of a ‘hub’ at Hautapu, as part of this draft plan. This is needed to satisfy the growing industrial needs as the population of Cambridge continues to increase and with constrained supply of industrial land elsewhere in the Waikato region.
More infrastructure is needed to help this growth occur however this is driven by the market and is largely outside Council’s control. If this growth is delayed, and income from development contributions - and the increased number of rateable properties - is not consistent with our expectations, we may not be able to fund other works programmes if our debt levels remain high.
We’re required by the Government to plan for growth, and it costs a lot! We have to invest in key infrastructure to serve those homes. So, while growth pays for growth eventually, there is sometimes a lag between work being done, such as upgrading the Cambridge and Te Awamutu wastewater treatment plants or putting in a collector road, and when we are paid for it (after sections go to market and sell).
Did you know?
The Government set rules to unlock land for housing and made us a ‘tier one’ growth council—so we must plan for 30+ years of housing demand!
Getting ready for growth
Before any land is developed, houses are built or roads are created, we plan how and where everything will go and what the area will look like. We call this a structure plan, which we’ve developed for parts of Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Kihikihi and Ōhaupō.
Then we develop master plans to determine what sort of pipes we need to install for water, wastewater, and stormwater services, how roading intersections and pathways will be laid out, and what areas will be identified as green spaces. As much as possible we apply a “just in time” approach to ensure the delivery of planned infrastructure is in alignment with the expected demand in the area.
Growth and rural communities
Plan Change 29
Plan Change 29 will rezone 25.78 ha at 2025 Ōhaupō Road, Te Awamutu from rural to residential.
This change would allow them to build about 500 new homes, including a lifestyle village with care and community facilities.
Growth-related debt
Building the infrastructure required for us to support existing and new residential, commercial and industrial growth areas has cost $226.5 million over the past three years. It is expected to cost us another $199.9 million over the next three years.
The total growth-related debt forecast to be payable by developers at the start of this plan is $251.8 million.
Sometimes we grow faster than planned
Due to the current plan change programme, and multiple private plan changes, we expect some growth cells currently zoned rural - or scheduled for development post-2035 - to be developed earlier than planned. As a result, these areas are expected to contribute development contribution revenue during the period of this Long Term Plan.
From 2028/29 onwards, we expect to receive development contribution revenue from growth areas not currently included in the Development Contributions Policy.
For example, areas like the C10 growth cell (east of the Hautapu Industrial Precinct), which has $42 million in projected revenue is already partly uplifted (57 hectares) and progressing through a development agreement, with a private plan change underway to uplift an additional 105 hectares.
Draft Development Contributions Policy
When developers want to develop land in the Waipā District, they are charged fees in line with our Development Contributions Policy.
This is to ensure they pay a share of growth-related infrastructure costs. They contribute towards infrastructure like roading and water projects needed to ensure new subdivisions get the services they need to make them ‘liveable’.
We consult on the policy every three years. In this Long Term Plan we are proposing the following changes:
