Urban encroachment and various activities, such as subdivision, use and development in the rural areas, can easily compromise the future use of the good quality land.

The three urban settlements are all located on good quality lands (Classifications I, II and III Land Use Inventory) The exception is the ranges behind Te Aroha which are a significant landscape feature identified for protection from urban encroachment. The placement of hardstand and structures over the ground makes future use of the soil unlikely and difficult to achieve.

Consolidation within existing urban boundaries is required to retain the finite rural land resource for primary productive purposes and to efficiently utilise existing services. In the case of all three urban centres, Te Aroha, Morrinsville and Matamata, there is undeveloped residentially zoned residential available, as well as greater potential for infill housing.

State

Population

In the 1986 – 1991 period the population in the Matamata– Piako District remained relatively constant, with a minor decrease between 1991 and 1996. As discussed in chapter two, this could be attributed to recent industry closure and removal of industry housing in rural areas of the district.

Overall demographic trends show that the projected resident population of Matamata–Piako District through to 2021 will actually decline by around 10% when compared to 1996 figures.

For the overall benefit of the District it is important for the Council to create initiatives to promote residential and industrial growth. However these initiatives must encourage growth that is consistent with the Council’s resource management strategies and visions for healthy growth within the district.

Building

Household growth has been significant given the limited change in population growth. Census figures indicate that in the three main towns of Te Aroha, Morrinsville and, Matamata there have been 6%, 6.6% and 7.3% increases, respectively, in the number of occupied dwellings between 1986 and 1991.

The population growth in the district for the 1991 to 1996 period has been –0.61 suggesting that the increase in the number of occupied dwellings is due to fewer people living in each dwelling. This has implications for the current and future amount of land zoned for residential development.

While the Waikato Region had the second lowest home ownership rate in the country in the 1996 census, the Matamata–Piako District home ownership rate was 37.7%.

Subdivision

The table below shows, over the past two years, 54 applications were submitted seeking to create a total of 153 residential lots. Almost half of these were in Matamata. Number of Occupied Dwellings