City council can delay housing density hearings while Government ponders plans

Monday, 8 January 2024

Plans for housing density changes for Christchurch remain up in the air.

Hearings on proposed housing density rules for Christchurch will be paused while the Government mulls over a potential law change.

The city council had been seeking to have the $4.2 million hearings panel process - held to consider new housing intensification rules required by law - postponed or halted because of the change of government.

The independent hearings panel has now agreed to reschedule the restart date from January 30 to March 18.

The new National-led coalition government has said it will make the density standards optional for councils.

Submissions under way in November during an hearings panel sitting on Christchurch housing density.

Several weeks of hearings of public submissions were held in October and November. The process has cost the council $2.63m 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.

Six days worth of hearings remain on the schedule.

Under the law as it stands, the council must decide on its new rules by September.

The housing intensification rules were introduced in 2021 and require the main cities including Christchurch to allow three houses per site, each up to three storeys high, without resource consent.

The hearings panel said in its decision to allow the postponement that a short adjournment would be “appropriate and fair in the circumstances”.

The council was previously told that a pre-Christmas request for Environment Minister Penny Simmonds to give permission to halt the hearings could not be considered in time.

John Higgins, the council’s head of planning and consents, said the delay would allow more time to get clarity from the new Government about the next steps for the plan-change process.

“Delaying the hearings allows more time for the council, submitters and the independent hearings panel to hear from the minister and to clearly understand the next steps,” he said.

The rules were expected to boost the supply of affordable housing and prevent urban sprawl, but many Christchurch residents feared a loss of sunshine and privacy and argued the city had capacity to meet future demand under its current rules.