Beyond the Edge: Australia's First National Peri-urban Conference La Trobe University Oct 2013

1. Understanding tradeoffs between high class
land and development; recent and future
pressures on Auckland’s soil resources
Beyond the Edge
(La Trobe University Melbourne)
Fiona Curran Cournane,
Melanie Vaughan, Ali Memon and Craig
Fredrickson
Research Investigations and Monitoring Unit

2. Introduction
• Increasing global population
• Auckland largest city in NZ
• Population forecast to increase from 1.5-2.5m
by 2040
• Equates to 400,000 dwellings
• Competition of high class land for rural vs urban
vs peri-urban use in NZ
• Soil natural capital- ecosystem services
• High class land = Land use capability classes 1-3

3. Land Use Capability (LUC) Classification
1
Arable cropping
suitability
Pastoral
grazing
suitability
Production
forestry
suitability
High
High
General
suitability
High
Specific
reference in
Unitary Plan
Value for
primary
production
Elite land
High
Multiple use
land
Prime land
Pastoral or
forestry land
2
Moderate to
low versatility
High to
moderate
3
4
Low
5
6
Unsuitable
7
Low
Low
8
Unsuitable
Unsuitable
Moderate to
low
Conservation
land
Low
Decreasing versatility of use
Increasing limitations to use
LUC Class

4. Objectives
To robustly quantify the amount of high class
land that has been lost to urban development
and what is likely to occur using both long
term trend and future growth records

5. High class
land =
Land Use
Capability (LUC)
Classes 1-3
LUC 1 (<1%)
LUC 2 (12%)
LUC 3 (15%)

6. What we had
• 28% (124,843 hectares) of the Auckland total land
area is classified as elite and prime agricultural
land
What we lost......

7. Urban
extension
7,172 ha (5.7%) high
class land lost to urban
extension
Disproportionate
encroachment onto
high class land

8. Greenfields equate to
7,842ha (6.3%) loss of
high class land
Building consents
(52,980) granted =
1.1% (1,395ha) loss of
high class land
(415ha outside RUB)

9. Future growth
pressures on
high class land

10. Why we care
Powerhouse in terms of
outdoor vegetable production
Because...
• Pukekohe has some of NZ’s best soils
• Unique, effectively frost free climate
• Availability of irrigation water
• Multitude of freight options
• Supply of labour

11. Lest we forget....
• Supporting
• Cultural
• Regulatory.....
...ecosystem services soil
natural capital support

12. Conclusions
•
Urbanisation disproportionally encroaches onto elite and
prime land and future growth indicates that these
tradeoffs will continue
•
Real need to analyse the economic benefits and long term
sustainability of future development and protection of our
valuable soil resources
•
True cost of lost ES needs to be evaluated to ensure these
values are acknowledged by decision makers