Are mayors playing whack-a-mole with fast track?
Councils plan where towns grow. The minister keeps letting developers pop up somewhere else.
Grant McLachlan
13 hours ago3 min read
How National’s business model is ruining farming
Six parties debated in the dairy capital. Nobody named the thing killing the primary sector.
Grant McLachlan
Sep 63 min read
The “I know a guy” threshold: How Brick Bay Lodge was fast-tracked on the vaguest of details
A 45-suite luxury lodge on a Snells Beach wine farm won referral to the fast-track process while Auckland Council said the economic case did not stack up — and the public only found out after the Minister had already signed off.
Grant McLachlan
Aug 2113 min read
Pegasus Brief — The end of the beginning
The government has declined Wolfbrook Developments Limited’s application to fast-track its 1,000-home Pegasus West project — but the fight over the former Pegasus Golf Course is far from over.
Grant McLachlan
Aug 205 min read
Is fast-track backfiring on National?
Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury, Queenstown, and Auckland ratepayers are being asked to carry the infrastructure bill for growth their own councils tried to stop.
Grant McLachlan
Aug 153 min read
Pegasus Brief — Treated like mushrooms
Days after 16,000 signatures were carried onto the steps of Parliament, the Government fast-tracked a motorway it says will “unlock housing” at Pegasus — then this week finally confirmed what it had spent weeks declining to confirm or deny.
Grant McLachlan
Aug 59 min read
Why is Queenstown asking the public to fix a mess it approved?
A resort town let ribbon development swallow its only roads, blacklisted the journalist who exposed its wastewater failures, and is now asking the public for ideas on how to fix what its own decisions caused.
Grant McLachlan
Aug 213 min read
Who really wins when councils scrap minimum parking rules?
Central and local government stripped car parking requirements from new developments to fix the housing crisis. It has made land more valuable, planning weaker, and streets unliveable — for residents and for the businesses whose customers can no longer find a park.
Grant McLachlan
Jul 316 min read
Will backlash against donors decide this election?
Imagine gloating about donating tens of thousands of dollars to National, ACT and the Taxpayers' Union. Imagine paying thousands more for a selfie at the Prime Minister's table. Then imagine becoming the reason voters can't stand the government you paid for.
Grant McLachlan
Jul 1211 min read
Pegasus Brief — Scorched Earth?
Wolfbrook filled the golf holes with concrete once; residents dug it out. This week the company came back with expanding foam.
Grant McLachlan
Jul 95 min read
Pegasus Brief — Poisoning the well
Pegasus residents have built a moral position stronger than anything the fast-track process can withstand on the merits — a council opposed, a mayor opposed, the local MP opposed, more than 16,000 signatures, and Golf New Zealand on the record.
Grant McLachlan
Jul 27 min read
Pegasus Brief — Holding the high ground
The story breaks into the national mainstream. Residents are organised. Wolfbrook stays silent. And the public record on the people behind Wolfbrook is worth a closer look.
Grant McLachlan
Jun 27 min read
Cannibalising Pegasus: How a 77-hectare slice of a championship course becomes a land bank
A developer has bought 77ha of Pegasus Golf Course — clubhouse, practice range, six holes — and wants it rezoned for housing. That contradicts the consent that built Pegasus, the zoning that protects it, and the reason the course exists at all.
Grant McLachlan
May 2015 min read
The Bullshit Economy
New Zealand has constructed an elaborate economy out of its own inefficiencies.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 1724 min read
Seven steps to a productive economy
New Zealand's addiction to property speculation is strangling the productive economy. Seven practical reforms — from taxing land and capital gains to protecting elite soils and standardising public infrastructure — could redirect investment where it is actually needed.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 17 min read
When noise drowns out democracy: The predictable playbook of environmental campaigns
In environmental battles, the winner isn't determined by facts—it's determined by who controls the noise. Create enough controversy, enough division, enough exhaustion, and people simply tune out. By the time Sustainable Tarras' legitimate questions get answers, no one's listening anymore. It's a strategy I've seen deployed countless times. And it always works.
Grant McLachlan
Feb 136 min read
Investigative journalism master class eviscerating corrupt council
In an era when media organisations frantically downsize, replacing substance with clickbait and advertorial content, a remarkable counter-narrative is unfolding in Queenstown.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 16, 20256 min read
Has Queenstown exceeded capacity?
Queenstown risks destroying the very reason people visit the destination. With the sewerage plant overflowing, can it grow any further?
Grant McLachlan
Feb 7, 20254 min read
Dopey economic theory causing social decline
The Herald headline read "Auckland Council golf courses a $2b-plus development bonanza." Here is the column challenging it.
Grant McLachlan - Column
Oct 14, 20204 min read
Jackson exposes property industry cynicism
To view online published article, please click here. The stoush between the Wellington mayor and a movie industrialist encapsulates what...
Grant McLachlan - New Zealand Herald - Column
Jun 1, 20194 min read
