Council decision halts appeal against huge Lincoln subdivision

Wednesday, 6 September 2023

The town of Lincoln could get thousands of new residents if a development bid by Christchurch’s Carter Group succeeds (video first published March 2021).

Changes adopted by the Selwyn District Council could clear the way for a controversial subdivision that stands to almost double the population of Lincoln.

A community group formed to fight the 1710-lot subdivision is crying foul over the move that’s left their Environment Court appeal dead in the water.

The council says it was required to adopt Variation 1 several changes to its District Plan - including Rolleston Industrial Development’s request to rezone 186 hectares of rural land on the outskirts of Lincoln - due to Resource Management Act changes upping the allowed housing density in urban areas.

The changes mean up to three residential units, each up to three storeys high, can be built without resource consent on a site within Rolleston, Prebbleton and Lincoln’s medium density zones.

Denise Carrick, spokesperson for Lincoln Voice, at the site proposed for a 1710-lot development on the outskirts of Lincoln.

Rolleston Industrial Developments – owned by the Carter Group’s Philip and Tim Carter – applied for a private plan change to create a 2000-lot subdivision (later revised to 1710 lots) in Lincoln and a small commercial zone in 2020.

The Selwyn District Council approved it in June 2022 after independent commissioner David Caldwell gave the development his stamp of approval.

Concerned residents formed a group to push back. They raised about $15,000 and filed an appeal to the Environment Court in August last year. The action still under way when the group, Lincoln Voice, learned plans to adopt the variation would effectively scuttle their appeal.

Lincoln Voice spokesperson Denise Carrick said the group intended to make a complaint to the Ombudsman about the council’s process.

Selwyn mayor Sam Broughton says the council was legally obliged to review the district plan, an “extensive and complex” process that took over seven years and three electoral cycles. (File photo)

The group was still working out what its next steps to try to stop the subdivision should be, she said.

As the council had taken Carter Group’s plan change on as its own, and because the site would now be classified as medium density land, there was no longer any right of appeal to the Environment Court, despite the fact it was already under appeal, Carrick said.

That left the group with the options of appealing to the High Court, or to apply for a judicial review of the decision.

But both those paths would be expensive, and carry significant liability and financial risk for the group, she said.

The Carter Group’s subdivision in Lincoln could nearly double the population of the town. Critics say quality farmland should be protected and that local infrastructure cannot cope with the exponential increase.

“A lot of people want us to go to the High Court but the costs are just so high. It could be up around $100,000. Should we really have to spend the community’s money on lawyers to do this against their own council?”

Carrick was also critical of the vote to adopt the plan, which was held behind closed doors last month with only six councillors in attendance.

With just one fewer, the group would not have reached quorum, and Carrick said there were concerns about the presence of deputy mayor Malcolm Lyall, who had previously recused himself due to a conflict of interest.

There had been an outpouring of concern from the community, especially about the council’s failure to notify submitters of the decision, and to comments from some councillors that they were unaware of the implications, she said.

In its submission to the planning hearings, Lincoln Voice accused the council of trying to undermine their appeal by using the planning changes to avoid the Environment Court process, and to bypass new regulations relating to highly productive land.

In a statement, Selwyn mayor Sam Broughton said the District Plan review took place over seven years and three electoral cycles.

“We were legally obliged to review the plan.”