Report Proposed Ruakura Development: Social Impact Assessment Prepared for Tainui Group Holdings Ltd (Client) By Beca Ltd (Beca) 21 June 2013 © Beca 2013 (unless Beca has expressly agreed otherwise with the Client in writing). This report has been prepared by Beca on the specific instructions of our Client. It is solely for our Client‟s use for the purpose for which it is intended in accordance with the agreed scope of work. Any use or reliance by any person contrary to the above, to which Beca has not given its prior written consent, is at that person's own risk. Proposed Ruakura Development: Social Impact Assessment Revision History Revision Nº Prepared By Description Date A Charlotte Crack Draft for Team Review 07 June 2013 B Charlotte Crack Update for integration with other 13 June 2013 Ruakura Development Assessments C Charlotte Crack Update in response to pre-lodgement 21 June 2013 feedback Document Acceptance Action Name Signed Date Prepared by Charlotte Crack 21 June 2013 Reviewed by Amelia Linzey 21 June 2013 Approved by Amelia Linzey 21 June 2013 on behalf of Beca Ltd Beca // 21 June 2013 // Page i 4261585 // NZ1-7536152-13 1.0 Proposed Ruakura Development: Social Impact Assessment Table of Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Project Description ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background to the Project ........................................................................................... 2 1.3 Organisation of this Report .......................................................................................... 4 2 Description of the ‘Project’ Assessed in this SIA .............................................. 6 2.1 Plan Change Overview ................................................................................................ 6 2.2 Ruakura Structure Plan ............................................................................................... 7 2.3 Differences between the proposed Plan Change and the Ruakura Structure Plan .............................................................................................................................. 8 3 SIA Scope and Approach .................................................................................. 10 3.1 Scope of this SIA ....................................................................................................... 10 3.2 SIA Approach ............................................................................................................ 12 4 Key Stakeholders/Communities of Interest ..................................................... 16 5 Description of Social Environment ................................................................... 17 5.1 Establishing Assessment Areas / Communities of Potential Impact ......................... 17 5.2 Context – Description ................................................................................................ 18 5.3 Population Profile ...................................................................................................... 22 5.4 Land Use and Social Infrastructure ........................................................................... 28 5.5 Political and Community Structures .......................................................................... 32 6 Assessment of Effects ...................................................................................... 33 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 33 6.2 Community Cohesion and People‟s Way of Life ....................................................... 33 6.3 People‟s Health and Well-being ................................................................................ 36 6.4 The Environment ....................................................................................................... 39 6.5 People and their Property .......................................................................................... 41 6.6 Political and Community Structures .......................................................................... 43 6.7 Construction Effects .................................................................................................. 43 6.8 Summary of Effects ................................................................................................... 44 7 Recommendations for Avoidance and Management of Social Effects .......... 46 7.1 Recommended Management and Response Measures ........................................... 46 7.2 Monitoring of Effects .................................................................................................. 47 Appendices Appendix A – Phase 1 SIA (Ruakura Estate Development - Community Perception Survey (Institute for Business Research)) Appendix B - Socio-Economic Policy Context Appendix C - Community Facilities & Infrastructure Beca // 21 June 2013 // Page i 4261585 // NZ1-7536152-13 1.0 Proposed Ruakura Development: Social Impact Assessment 1 Introduction 1.1 Project Description Tainui Group Holdings (TGH), partnering with Chedworth Properties Ltd (CPL), proposes to develop land at Ruakura (the requested Plan Change area1) as a „mixed-use‟ development, incorporating commercial, industrial and residential land uses (this area (the “Ruakura Site” or the “Site”) is shown in red hashing on Figure 1). The proposal is being advanced by a Request for a Plan Change to the Waikato Section of the Operative Hamilton City District Plan, which will provide land use guidance to enable and manage development. It is noted that this is an „initial phase‟ of implementation as a wider suite of zone changes is provided for in the Proposed Hamilton District Plan (the “R1 Area”)2. The R1 area is currently being progressed through the statutory process (Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act). The current propose Plan Change will be in advance of, but is largely consistent with the provisions of the Proposed Hamilton District Plan and will have effect until such time as the provisions of that Plan are made operative. A Structure Plan for the R1 Area has also been prepared for the land, and has been included within the Proposed District Plan. The Site is proposed to include: An intermodal terminal facility (otherwise described as an „inland port‟), with freight handling and distribution facilities Light Industrial activity Extensions to the existing innovation and research area A range of new residential accommodation A suburban scale retail precinct and a smaller neighbourhood retail centre to support new employees and residents, and also the wider existing residential catchment Open spaces, parks and cycleways Roading, associated servicing infrastructure, including stormwater management. Ruakura is located approximately three kilometres to the east of Hamilton City‟s central business district. The site is dissected by the East Coast Main Trunk Railway Line and is bordered to the east by the designation for the proposed Waikato Expressway, put in place in 2004 and currently scheduled for physical completion in 2019. 1 This area is the „site‟ for the purpose of discussion in the SIA report. 2 The R1 Area relates to the 822hs transferred to Hamilton City on 1 July 2011 and induces the site. It is the same area as that of the Ruakura Structure Plan, described in section 1.2.3 of this report. Beca // 21 June 2013 // Page 1 4261585 // NZ1-7536152-13 1.0 Proposed Ruakura Development: Social Impact Assessment Figure 1: General Location Plan3 (Plan Change area in red hashing) 1.2 Background to the Project 1.2.1 Land Ownership A large area of land at Ruakura was returned to Waikato-Tainui by the Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995. The land holdings, which are within the R1 area transferred into Hamilton City from the Waikato District on 1st July 2011, after a publicly notified consultative process was undertaken through the provisions of the Local Government Act. The stated purpose of this transfer was to provide for the future expansion of Hamilton City “in the best interests of the present and future inhabitants of the City”4. Of the 822ha transferred into Hamilton City jurisdiction, TGH owns approximately 500 hectares; with approximately 116 hectares owned by Chedworth Park Ltd. They own all of the Site. 3 Image from „Landscape and Visual Assessment: Folio of Drawings‟, Boffa Miskell (June 2013). 4 Cited in the „Ruakura Private Plan Change Assessment of Environmental Effects‟, Boffa Miskell (June 2013) Beca // 21 June 2013 // Page 2 4261585 // NZ1-7536152-13 1.0 Proposed Ruakura Development: Social Impact Assessment The remainder of the 822ha, lying outside the Site is owned by other individual property owners, including some whose socio-economic activity is dominantly „rural-residential‟5 in nature. The nearby area also includes the AgResearch campus and the Waikato Innovation Park, and is bordered by the University of Waikato (which is outside the R1 area). 1.2.2 Planning for an Increasing Population Hamilton City is New Zealand‟s fourth largest urban area, with a population of approximately 130,000, at the time of the Statistics New Zealand 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings6. Population projections7 indicate that Hamilton City is already one of the fastest growing urban areas in New Zealand, is home to a young population, and high rates of population are anticipated into