On 24 September 2026, Property Council submitted to Auckland Council on Plan Change 120: Housing Intensification and Resilience (“PC120”).
Why this matters to our members
Our members that operate in Auckland agree that enabling focused intensification within walkable, accessible and transit-oriented locations will provide opportunities to meet Auckland’s urgent housing and growth demands, improve transport and infrastructure efficiency, and reduce urban sprawl.
Our view
Our members support the proposal to provide capacity for 1.5-1.7 million homes in areas that are walkable and/or have good access to public transport networks. Our members consider more intensification in Auckland’s suburban centres and a more proportionate approach to natural hazard risk management would support greater housing diversity and better outcomes for communities. Property Council encourages Auckland Council to review the provisions of PC120 for alignment with the new planning system, to support certainty for the property sector and ongoing investment.
At a high level, we recommend that Auckland Council:
- Apply increased height limits to more walkable catchments, Town Centres, Local Centres and Frequent Transit Network corridors
- Align PC120 with the requirements of the new planning system by removing ‘out of scope effects’ from the Auckland Unitary Plan
- Continue to provide independent urban design advisory services for significant projects
- Introduce distinct typology-specific rules and criteria for apartments and terrace housing
- Remove deep soil and tree canopy provisions due to their impacts on developable area
- Allow site-specific assessments to inform natural hazard risk, alongside mapped risk classifications
- Remove downzoning that has been applied to sites based on new flood risk data, and creating design standards to manage risks
- Follow Government direction in relation to climate change scenarios and modelling used for decision making