Go-ahead for new Pak'n Save in northern Christchurch despite council opposition

Tuesday, 18 February 2020

A supermarket opposed by Christchurch City Council planners has been given the go-ahead.

Foodstuffs has been granted resource consent to build a new Pak'n Save supermarket on a property with industrial zoning on Main North Rd in Redwood.

Foodstuffs already owns the site, which includes its South Island head office and its former distribution centre and borders two other business premises facing Northcote Rd.

The 6900 square metre supermarket – planned to replace a Pak'n Save branch at nearby Northlands Mall which will eventually close – will also double as a disaster response centre. It will have 278 outside and basement parking spaces and a self-service petrol station with eight pumps.

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Council staff had submitted that approving the project would create problems with access and traffic, and run contrary to planning rules as the site was not identified in the district plan as a main shopping hub.

New Zealand Transport Agency and Environment Canterbury also opposed the application.

The Catholic diocese, which is planning to build a new school for Marian College next door to the Foodstuffs site, supported the proposal.

The independent commissioner's decision said the plan would have a positive effect on the area, any potential adverse effects could be sufficiently managed, and the commercial use fitted with the industrial zoning.

'The risk of the proposal giving rise to precedent effects or undermining the integrity of the (district) plan is negligible,' the decision said.