Mauger invited to Wellington to discuss housing density

Thursday, 8 February 2024

The Environment Minister says she’ll decide whether to grant Christchurch permission to pause a hearings panel process on housing intensification after she’s met with the mayor.

Mayor Phil Mauger will present the case for halting proposed changes to Christchurch’s housing density rules to the Government in person later this month.

It is after this meeting that the new Environment Minister will decide whether to grant Christchurch City Council permission to pause its $4.2 million hearings panel process, held to consider the previous Government’s housing intensification laws.

Although the National Party promised to make the former Government’s housing density rules optional within it’s first 100 days of office, until there is a law change, the independent hearings panel is legally obligated to continue.

The council asked for Environment Minister Penny Simmonds’ permission over two months ago. On Wednesday, a staff member from Simmonds’ office said she was still receiving advice on the council’s December 6 request.

The previous Government’s housing density rules allows for three residential buildings of three storeys each to be built without resource consent.

Simmonds would finalise her decision after a meeting between the council, herself and Housing Minister Chris Bishop, the spokesperson said.

John Higgins, the council’s head of planning and consents, clarified the meeting wasn’t with the council at large, but that the minister had invited Mayor Phil Mauger to meet with her in Wellington on February 13.

Mauger has agreed to go, despite it being the day before the city council sits for two days to debate and agree on a draft long term plan.

The hearings process - which has cost over $2.6m of its $4.2m budget so far - is a result of the previous Government’s medium residential density rules, which were introduced in 2021 and mandated that large cities like Christchurch should allow people to build three residential buildings of three storeys each, without resource consent, across much of the city.

The aim was to increase housing availability and affordability, but the city council fought against it, arguing that Christchurch already had enough capacity for 30 years worth of growth.

There was public resistance to the new rules also, with existing homeowners fearing a loss of privacy, sunshine and green spaces.

There are six days worth of submissions left to be heard by the independent hearings panel.

The process was meant to resume on January 30, but pushed the start date to March 18 to give the minister more time to consider the request.

On Wednesday, a representative from the panel told submitters the hearings would now resume on April 15.