Te Tupu Ngātahi Supporting Growth is a collaboration between Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) and Auckland Transport. Engineering firms AECOM and BECA, and legal firms Bell Gully and Buddle Findlay are supporting Waka Kotahi and Auckland Transport with this work under an alliance delivery model.

Auckland Council, Mana Whenua and KiwiRail are partners of the alliance. They contribute to the work but are not leading it.

The alliance must meet Waka Kotahi’s and Auckland Transport’s normal governance and decision making gateways and operating requirements.

The purpose of the alliance is to investigate, and route protect the strategic transport networks required over the next 30 plus years to support Auckland’s future urban growth areas. Route protection is a legislative process to identify future networks before development takes place. It ensures transparency for communities and land owners and enables long term planning.

The key benefits of this work include (but are not limited to):

• An aligned vision for the future strategic transport networks required to support future urban growth and a pathway forward towards funding and delivery of individual projects.
• Providing certainty to landowners, developers and future communities over the location, form, and function of the future strategic transport networks before they happen.
• Conversely, avoiding the disruption of not planning ahead and having to retrofit future transport projects into existing communities after development has already happened.
• Enable the future strategic transport networks to be provided at the right time and integrated with growth and development as it happens.
• Better outcomes and significant cost savings in the long-term compared to not planning ahead.

The Auckland Plan identifies that by 2050 the population is expected to grow by another one million people. Around 30 to 40 per cent of this new growth will go into future urban growth (greenfield) areas identified in the Auckland Unitary Plan.

Identifying the location, scale and intended land use for these future urban growth areas created the need for the Council and transport agencies to think ahead and commence transport planning at a network scale before growth and development occurs.

In 2015, Auckland Council, Waka Kotahi and AT collaborated on the Transport for Future Urban Growth Programme Business Case (PBC). The PBC worked with communities to develop aspirations for the future urban growth areas and recommended an alliance model for the next stage of work.

The alliance was formally established in 2018 and will complete its work in 2 years time.

The work of the alliance is currently helping to plan the future urban growth areas across Auckland, which are under significant pressure from development proposals now.

The Council identified the Future Urban Zone areas in the Auckland Unitary Plan which require servicing. It also participated in developing the PBC with Waka Kotahi and Auckland Transport. An alliance was the preferred delivery model.

Route protection will take the form of Notices of Requirement (NoR) under the Resource Management Act 1991. Given Council’s role as regulator for NoRs it was not considered appropriate for Council to be a part of the alliance hence its partnership status.

The alliance integrates with the Council by:

• Providing regular briefings of Elected Members and Local Boards about the alliance work and planned engagement.
• Providing regular Council management updates on the alliance work.
• Collaborating on relevant Council workstreams including the development strategy, growth funding and financing, and planning processes (structure plans, plan changes and resource consents).
• Inputs into regulatory and technical processes for the notices of requirement under the Resource Management Act, which will be lodged by Waka Kotahi and Auckland Transport.
• The SGA is operating in the four future urban growth areas of:
  • Warkworth
  • North (Silverdale, Dairy Flat, Wainui and Orewa)
  • North West (Kumeū-Huapai, Redhills, Whenuapai and Riverhead)
  • South (Takaanini, Ōpāheke, Drury, Paerata and Pukekohe)
• The Airport to Botany project was also recently added to the programme, and traverses Botany, Manukau, Puhinui and the airport.
• There are more than 70 transport projects planned across these four areas including State Highways, rapid transit corridors, arterial roads, actives modes, stations and park and rides. The majority of these projects will be delivered in the future (10-30 years plus) but some are progressing now.
• Engagement with communities, mana whenua and stakeholders has been underway since 2015 as part of the PBC and has continued under the alliance. The remainder of 2022 and early 2023 will be busy engagement periods as communities and landowners are engaged on the preferred options and route refinement before the lodgement of NoRs. The NoR process is public and is another opportunity for communities to be involved in the decision making.