Council requests a pause to controversial housing density plans

Wednesday, 6 December 2023

The Christchurch City Council is requesting a pause to the independent hearings panel process looking into new housing intensification rules across the city.

The future of Christchurch’s housing intensification plan now sits with the new Environment Minister.

The Christchurch City Council decided on Wednesday to ask Environment Minister Penny Simmonds to pause the $4.2 million independent hearings process, which is considering housing density rules imposed by the former Government.

Due to existing laws the council can not make the decision itself.

The intensification plan being considered allows three residential buildings of three storeys each to be built, without a resource consent, across vast parts of the city. It also allows for higher limits in main suburban centres.

The plan, which has garnered strong opposition from residents’ groups, provides enough space for housing for the next 150 years.

But the new Government has said it would make the density standards optional for councils.

The council has already spent $2.63m on the independent hearings panel process.

The council did not know when the changes would be made or what new direction would be proposed, so in the meantime, it must comply with the current laws, which state a decision must be made by September 12, 2024.

For that deadline to be met, the hearing, which started in October, would have to resume on January 30, unless Simmonds granted a pause.

Simmonds has been contacted for comment.

The council has spent $2.63m on the hearings so far, including $2.02m on expert evidence and legal submissions, $370,000 on the venue and IT set up and $240,000 for the panel and conferencing.

Just one councillor voted against the pause, Sara Templeton.

Templeton said any changes enabled by the proposed new rules would be gradual and the city needed to plan for the future.

She said there were costs involved in stopping now and new legislation could be six to 12 months away, which could lead to the council to starting the process again.

Christchurch City councillor Sam MacDonald says requesting a pause is a pragmatic decison.

Given the National Party originally supported the new intensification rules, Templeton said the council should send it an invoice for the costs incurred so far.

Councillor Sam MacDonald said requesting a pause was a pragmatic solution and he hoped the minister acted with urgency.

Crouncillor Melanie Coker said given concerns about sea level rise, the city would need a lot more housing away from the coast. Pausing the plan change might give the city an opportunity to plan in a way that better suited the city, she said.

Councillor Mark Peters said pressing pause made real sense and “blindly carrying on” would be a mistake.

Earlier in the meeting, the council was urged to press pause by representatives of a number of residents’ groups.

Marc Duff, of the Greater Hornby Residents’ Association, said he was disappointed it had taken so long for the council to discuss pausing the process, but now was a logical time to do it.

Tony Simons, who represented a combined group of about 20 residents’ associations across the city, said continuing with the hearing was throwing good money after bad.

However, resident Harrison McEvoy asked the council to keep going.

He said it did not make sense to stop the hearings process now, especially when it was almost complete.

The housing issues it was addressing had existed for a long time and the city could not afford to put it off, McEvoy said.