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Perhaps a focus on quality long term quality housing rather than just consent numbers for political purposes.
Focus on smaller builds at small prices not small builds of apartments at large build prices with hefty ongoing maintenance charges, which are not exactly the same thing!
Under neoliberism housing has been designed to make profits and leave the mess of apartment blocks and construction that are not designed and checked to be fit for purpose, to the public.
There seems to be a lack of political will in stopping bad apartments and housing being built that barely last a decade before major work is needed.
Developers should have to provide AAA+ insurance in place BEFORE selling the apartments for over 50 years…on work costing over 1 million dollars to fix…so there is somebody there apart from the owner and public via the ratepayers to pay for the ongoing dysfunctional construction in NZ and government obsession and mollycoddling of this sector.
Developers and architects involved in poor construction should face hefty fines as should all the associated parties profiting, aka the banks financing bad designs, the main contractors, the parties supplying poor materials such as bad concrete and steel and tighten the entire industry up. Visa holders who supply and work on bad construction should lose their visas so they are not in positions to constantly undercut more successful operators and constantly fail to ‘whistle blow’ when short cuts are made due to visa fears. Visa holders within that industry should also have to pay extra insurance to cover the legal costs associated with having so many non residents clogging up the construction industry which is more about profiting from visa’s than construction.
Individual developers should lose their ability to be able to do another development for 7 years for every failure. Jail for those that are more serious when the building is completely unfit for purpose.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018707948/australian-apartments-a-plague-of-property-researcher
“Australians are being warned to ditch their modern apartments, with a market researcher labelling them the bubonic plague of Australian property.
Deregulation and poor-quality workmanship over the last two decades have resulted in shoddily built apartments, some with major structural cracks forcing residents to evacuate, flammable cladding, and balconies with water seeping through them.”
Be aware too, that apparently ‘repairs’ are an allowable expense for rental owners. So you can claim for repairs to your apartment building that is decaying within a decade for all the Singapore and OZ investors out there who are investing in NZ apartments. Yipee, more tax breaks for bad construction woes!
So public money to the rescue again and the government happy to make everyone else pay, in particular divert taxpayer money that should be going for social projects like more hospitals and schools, to subsidise bad industries mistakes like poor developments.
Why would you change, it is working perfectly on behalf of those making profits from construction related issues. In fact the bad construction is creating more shortages driving up prices for new construction and their next project.
Also very unfair for the good construction operators and builders out there and decent labour and NZ apprentices, who are competing against the ponzies with visa, labour and materials scams that can undercut or divert from the better operators who ain’t going to last long if the undercutting continues.
win, win for dysfunctional industry.
Ban trucks from our cities. FOUR CITIES SO FAR ARE DOING THIS OVERSEAS SO WHERE ARE WE?
“CLEAN GREEN” IS AN URBAN MYTH.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38170794
Four major cities move to ban diesel vehicles by 2025
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
2 December 2016
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Air quality in Paris has forced political leaders to take a hard stance on the use of diesel
The leaders of four major global cities say they will stop the use of all diesel-powered cars and trucks by the middle of the next decade.
The mayors of Paris, Mexico City, Madrid and Athens say they are implementing the ban to improve air quality.
They say they will give incentives for alternative vehicle use and promote walking and cycling.
The commitments were made in Mexico at a biennial meeting of city leaders.
The use of diesel in transport has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, as concerns about its impact on air quality have grown. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that around three million deaths every year are linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution.
Europe pollution ‘kills 467,000 a year’
Diesel cars: What’s all the fuss about?
London air quality alerts announced
Diesel engines contribute to the problem in two key ways – through the production of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Very fine soot PM can penetrate the lungs and can contribute to cardiovascular illness and death.
Nitrogen oxides can help form ground level ozone and this can exacerbate breathing difficulties, even for people without a history of respiratory problems.
As the evidence has mounted, environmental groups have used the courts to try and enforce clear air standards and regulations. In the UK, campaigners have recently had success in forcing the government to act more quickly.
Now, mayors from a number of major cities with well known air quality problems have decided to use their authority to clamp down on the use of diesel.
In the UK, campaigners are calling for London’s mayor to commit to phase out diesel vehicles from London by 2025.
Sadiq Khan has proposed an expansion to the planned Ultra-Low Emission Zone in central London.
ClientEarth lawyer Alan Andrews said: “In the UK, London’s mayor is considering bolder action than his predecessor, proposing an expansion to the planned Ultra-Low Emission Zone. This is welcome but we want him to go further and faster.
“And it’s not just London that has this problem, we need a national network of clean air zones so that the problem is not simply pushed elsewhere.”
I’m all for getting long haul trucks off our roads, they are slowing traffic losing productivity, killing people, get them on rail.
But I’m damn sure a Prius doesn’t fit a round bale in the boot.
Diesel is still needed to farm efficiently and for other important industrial uses for which we don’t yet have alternatives.
Start with the big dispensable long haul trucks, I’ll support you on that.
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