CJ Wellington Metropolitan Region

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) site in yellow and the existing train station in red.

This week, the Government of New England has repealed the Metropolitan Plan 2005-2026 and replaced it with Greater Wellington Regional Plan 2019-2040 (GWRP).

In 2040, the population of Wellington alone will be 2.5 million people with nearly 4 million people in the metropolitan region. A continuous urban sprawl of nearly 80 kilometres from Wellington Central train station has prompted the Government of New England a rethink of the planning system.

The updated plan (GWRP 2019-2040) includes planning provisions for new Transit Oriented Development (TOD) on the top of or adjacent to existing train stations as a strategy to encourage more public transport use, mixed use development, and density. The term 'Transit Oriented Development' essentially refers to new development on public transport corridors or major stations with lack of car parking. This planning model has been quite successful in Australia and it has encouraged residents to use public transport instead of driving around.

The first TOD proposal lodged under the GWRP planning regulations was submitted to the Government of New England yesterday. The TOD proposal is located in Epping which is nearly 22 kilometres northwest of Wellington. The development is located next to Epping railway station and will consist of 4 residential highrise buildings up to 30 storeys high. All buildings will have some shop, commercial, and office spaces around the ground level opposite the train station, including a grocer store. Part of the TOD proposal, the developer will also pay $100 million to upgrade Epping station in exchange of planning approval for the development.


The proposed TOD at Epping station

The Epping residents are obviously very angry of this proposal because it overshadows a 200-year old town with unique character and architecture. The Government of New England will press through development approvals to make this happen.

The Government has also received planning submissions for five additional Transit Oriented Development proposals of similar scale in Risdon, Silverwater, Glebe (new underground station), Auburn, and Newmarket.