Denise Roche

Auckland City Council should be focused on growing into a better city, not a bigger one, the Green Party said today.

The Auckland Plan Committee has today decided to investigate greenfield areas for development outside of the city, which will allow for more urban sprawl.

"Without a doubt we need to be planning for Auckland's growth, but more expansion in the space the city covers is not the way forward," said Green Party Auckland spokesperson Denise Roche.

"We support the Auckland Plan's goal of becoming the world's most liveable city and to do that we should be promoting a range of high density and lower density housing around transport hubs.

"Developing housing in outlying areas will require massive infrastructure like sewerage, water, transport, and roading.

"The infrastructure that needs to be built from scratch is twice as expensive in greenfield development as it is when developing within the existing city.

"Protecting food growing land and recreation spaces surrounding the city also needs to be a consideration in changing any urban growth boundaries.

"I hope these issues will be considered in the Auckland Plan Committee's processes," said Ms Roche.