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Development in the Minden Lifestyle Zone could come to a grinding halt following an apparent Government decision to delay progress on the proposed Tauranga Northern Link.

The traffic issues have long been an issue north of Tauranga and when the Western Bay of Plenty District Council proposed the Minden area for its main rural residential development area some 10 years ago, the number of potential lots were capped by the New Zealand Transport Agency due to traffic safety issues. The zone was broken into four areas, based on the capacity of highway intersections.

Each area has a limit to the number of new titles that can be created prior to roading improvements in the region. The area accessed near the Wairoa River bridge used up their 30-lot allocation within the first year or so, following the structure plan release in early-2012. A further area, accessed off Ainsworth Rd, used up most of their remaining allocation more than two years ago now.

During the last six years, with demand ramping up, we’ve already worked our way through 177 lots out of the original 252 lots available, leaving only 75 to be taken up prior to a major roading upgrade. The two remaining areas with allocation available are depleting fast; and, at the current rate, there is likely less than two years’ supply left.

Without road improvements to the north of Tauranga, further titles will not be released in what is currently the only lifestyle block area in the Western BOP. As well as limiting this development, ongoing residential development at Omokoroa, which also depends on this road, will be severely compromised.

Under the current subdivision rules, subdividers must purchase a Transferable Development Right from a qualifying rural property before they can apply to council to create a new lot in the Minden Zone. These ‘rights’ are generally available to landowners who own older titles more than four hectares in size who, prior to the District Plan change, were entitled to subdivide on-site. TDRs can also be created by protecting ecological features and amalgamating existing titles together in the rural zone.

If you own land in the Minden Zone, located on the inland side of State Highway 2 between the Wairoa River and the Te Puna Stream, you may have opportunities that are disappearing fast.

If you wish to clarify any subdivision strategies relating to your land, please feel free to give me a call. I’m happy to discuss the situation with you to see if it is worth pursuing.

Brent Trail, managing director of Surveying Services, specialises in resource consent applications for subdivisions across the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Coromandel. For further information, call 0800 268 632 or email: btrail@surveyingservices.co.nz