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A new Waikato Community Lands Trust could benefit people in Hamilton and the wider Waikato.

At its meeting yesterday, Hamilton City Council approved the establishment of a Community Land Trust with the aim to help individuals and families to gain access to affordable home ownership.

The Trust would acquire land, hold the land in perpetuity and work with housing providers to deliver affordable housing to communities. The Council also approved $2M over the next two years for the Trust to begin purchasing land.

Hamilton City Council Community and Social Development Manager, Andy Mannering, said the Council was taking the lead to establish the Trust but is supported by a range of partners.

“Hamilton City Council is putting forward the initial funding, but this is a partnership with the community and we are confident others will support the initiative. This could be a big step forward to (housing) affordability in the region.”

A Trust Deed and recommended trustees will come back to a Council meeting on 17 September 2019.

The Council resolved to publicly notify proposed Plan Change 6 – Regulatory Efficiency and Effectiveness Plan Change.  The changes proposed through Plan Change 6 are designed to reduce compliance time and costs for developers and builders while still delivering the outcomes sought by the Council’s Operative District Plan.

The Council also resolved to formally begin pre-notification consultation on reducing the land size required for a dwelling in the general residential zone from 400m2 to 300m2 and enabling apartments to be constructed as a restricted discretionary activity where the site is near publicly owned sport, recreation and neighbourhood open space zones and certain natural space zones.  These proposals aim to reduce “red tape” and compliance requirements to construct this form of housing in these locations.  As part of that work, research will be undertaken on the impacts and potential costs for infrastructure due to the additional housing yield.

As there are no scheduled Council meetings for July, the Council approved an extension to the Chief Executive’s delegations during this period, enabling him to make decisions on behalf of the Council, where those decisions cannot be made at a Council meeting. The extended delegations for the Chief Executive are for the month of July only.

A new public consultation process on the Council’s Prostitution Bylaw Review will start from Monday 1 July 2019.

Consultation on the review was originally held in March and April, but the process was halted in May after an omission was identified in the consultation documents, including the Council’s resolution to consult on the bylaw at its 14 March 2019 meeting.

To ensure best practice the Council reconsidered the item at yesterday’s meeting. The Council determined, further to the 14 March resolutions, the Bylaw is not inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and approved public consultation for one month from 1 July 2019 to 1 August 2019 on a revised Statement of Proposal.

The Council approved the allocation of $100,000 from the heritage fund to maintain and retain Hamilton’s heritage items. In total, 12 applications were received to the funding round and 11 were deemed eligible.

Shared library services between Hamilton residents and for Waikato District residents in the immediate areas around Hamilton will resume next month after an agreement between the two councils was approved. A full media release on that decision can be found here.

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