Ward Mike: General Debates 
Ward Mike: General Debates 
[Volume:609;Page:6353] 
MIKE WARD (Green) 
: 
 Last week during an examination of estimates in the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee I complimented the Minister on his ambition after he indicated he would fix up Auckland’s transport problems. I then asked him whether he was concerned about the greenfields retail development recently proposed for south Manukau. I asked that in view of the fact that such a development will add to the already serious transport problems there. He said that he was not. He said that the development would create jobs and would create wealth. 
I have to ask where the evidence is for that. I ask where the evidence is that any of the communities that have been blessed by the presence of a megastore in recent years have actually benefited. Are their citizens any happier? Are any more of them working and is the quality of the work they do more rewarding? Is it any more enjoyable? Are the products that those stores are peddling of a higher quality or are they designed to fall apart and to contribute to the more than 10 million kilograms of stuff that New Zealanders throw on to New Zealand landfills every day? Do those “big boxes” reduce dependence on private motor cars by locating their premises so that their customers are encouraged to walk cycle or take public transport? I ask where the evidence is of community benefit because research from Canada indicates that the big-box retail developments remote from the central business districts drive retail sales down and cause store closures in adjacent and pre-existing shopping centres. 
Anecdotal evidence suggests that declining retail sales are just part of the problem here in New Zealand. I have some sympathy for local authorities that are faced with yet another request for a zone change to permit yet another retail development on the fringe of yet another New Zealand town. If they turn it down they are likely to face the cost of defending their decision in the Environment Court and in the absence of a very robust district plan and in view of the dearth of research into the economic traffic social environmental and employment consequences any decision to decline consent can be extraordinarily difficult to defend. But permitting big-box stores in the lower-value city fringe or greenfields sites with lower rates creates a most un-level playing field. If we add the obvious benefits of scale enjoyed by the big stores it is clear that business closures and declining profitability are likely to result. 
Whether or not local communities get additional retail space is an issue for councils to rule on in consultation with their communities but permitting the kind of urban development that undermines local economies and creates communities increasingly dependent on private motor cars for going shopping is an issue that should be of concern to everyone in this House. Although I believe that a moratorium on big-box approvals until the necessary research has been done is a reasonable ask if the Government is unwilling to make such a ruling at the very least the Minister of Transport and the Minister for Industry and Regional Development need to implement a review of their impacts—that is the impacts of those big-box stores—and their desirability. They also need to make the results of that review available for local communities so that they are better equipped to make their decisions on the facts rather than on the desire of large retail entities to strip-mine local economies. 
The new local government legislation increases the capability of councils to better care for their communities but creating healthy sustainable New Zealand communities is a team effort and providing all councils with the kind of information they need to contest these issues is a reasonable job for this Government.