Green belt effect on section prices

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33063, 2 November 1972, Page 12

Green belt effect on section prices

The suggestion that the presence of the urban fence was one of the causes of rising section prices was not borne out by general observation or research, the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority’s assistantdirector (Mr M. Douglass) told the Special t Town and Country Planning Appeal Board . yesterday.

i Land and building costs in » Christchurch, in every other . New Zealand community and J in the western hemisphere, 1 had risen sharply in the last - few years, he said. Christt church still retained some ad--1 vantage in development costs compared with other New > Zealand centres. 1

i “There is a host of factors ■ which all affect real estate ; values,” said Mr Douglass. I “In the long term, the planning policy that will yield , lowest section costs is that , , which avoids sprawl and requires compact urban devel- I opment. “Section prices, in any: event, are a very narrow base for judging this problem. No ! estimate has been prepared of savings that have come 1 from preventing sprawl through the rural zone protection. “This estimate would include consideration, among other factors, of reduced capital investment in utility services, lesser annual costs in 1 maintenance services, lesser ’ annual costs in transport, ■ better use of schools and • community services and more | economic use of near-urban ■ agricultural land. “On quite a short term, say five years, each of these ' items would yield savings to . the community of many thou- ; sands, and some cases, mil- ] lions of dollars annually.” Another factor, said Mr ( Douglass, was that any un- , certainty as to the perma- , i nence of the green belt j would cause land speculation ( and artificial escalation of rural land prices to approach I higher urban values. ; “Stable rural land prices , can only result from the es- i i tablishment of premanent ur- 1 ban boundaries,” he said. ;