Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has used a delayed Christchurch supermarket development to highlight what he calls a broken planning system driving up food prices and shutting out competition.
In a social media post, Seymour said a Woolworths supermarket should already be operating in Halswell, but four years and $3 million later, the land remains empty due to planning delays.
“This is a ghost supermarket,” Seymour said.
“This is why grocery prices are so high. Firstly, the $3 million cost to get resource consent is passed on to Woolworths shoppers across the country. That’s 1.5 million loaves of bread taken out of Kiwis’ trolleys.”
He said the delays protect dominant players from new competitors and deter international chains like Aldi and Walmart from entering New Zealand.
“If we want cheaper groceries, we need efficiency and competition. That starts with cutting the red tape,” Seymour said.
Woolworths has already gone public about the long and costly road to open the Halswell supermarket.
Last month, Woolworths New Zealand’s Director of Property, Matthew Grainger, told Chris Lynch Media the company bought the land in 2016 for $23.2 million, but it took four years and more than $3 million just to obtain resource consent.
“In New Zealand, we have very complex planning laws,” Grainger said. “The time it takes to get approval to establish a new supermarket is very protracted. That’s why we’re supportive of the Commerce Commission’s recommendation to free up planning laws and improve access to retail grocery sites.”
Grainger said the issue was not with any one agency, but with the system itself.
“There are neighbour issues, infrastructure considerations, and a general level of red tape that’s become normal. These delays are not uncommon anymore, and that’s the real problem.”
Construction is now underway, with Fletcher Living preparing the wider 22-hectare site, and Woolworths expecting to begin supermarket construction in spring. But the company said the experience reflects a wider issue affecting its ability to grow.
Seymour said the Government, through ACT’s Simon Court, is replacing the Resource Management Act with a system that welcomes development and investment.
He said ACT is also proposing a fast-track regime to let new or smaller grocery entrants roll out stores and warehouses within months rather than years.
“We have a serious cost of living challenge to tackle, and we won’t address it by finger-pointing or cutting down tall poppies,” Seymour said. “The blame game hasn’t worked. We need to get moving and build.”
