‘That is nuts’: Christchurch councillor in spat with minister over housing intensification
Thursday, 19 June 2025
A dispute over housing intensification has triggered a spat between a senior Christchurch city councillor and Housing Minister Chris Bishop.
In a speech in Wellington on Wednesday, Bishop said the Government had decided to prevent councils opting out of median density residential standards (MDRS), and “work on bespoke legislative solutions” for Auckland and Christchurch, which have not yet completed required zoning plan changes aimed at boosting housing density.
The new power would let ministers modify or remove planning provisions that limit growth, development capacity, or employment opportunities. Essentially, it will give Bishop, who also holds the resource management portfolio, a new temporary power to overrule local government plans.
Bishop said Christchurch could withdraw its housing plan change provided it has allowed for 30 years’ worth of housing growth.
He then went on to criticise some councils for having dragged their feet in the five years since the Government ordered changes, singling out Christchurch.
“It is an inarguable, and sometimes uncomfortable, fact that local government has been one of the largest barriers to housing growth in New Zealand,” Bishop said.
“In this time, Christchurch City Council just outright defied its legal obligations, voting to ignore the MDRS altogether. The last Government used RMA (Resource Management Act) intervention powers just to make them do it,” he said.
“The council then spent years and a large amount of money arguing for special exemptions, ignoring clear directives from central government.”
In the same speech, Bishop told his audience at the Wellington Chamber of Commerce that he loves Wellington, and the city had “got it right” on housing, with developers already “taking advantage of the new liberalised rules”.
However, statistics show that Wellington has a lot of ground to make up consenting fewer than four new homes per 1000 people in the year to July 2024 - one of the lowest rates in the country - compared to Christchurch at more than 10 new homes per 1000 people.
Christchurch city councillor Sam MacDonald said it was because of Christchurch’s push-back that National had previously backtracked on its full support for the Labour Government’s housing intensification law.
The law required councils of the main cities to create a National Policy Statement for Urban Development (NPS-UD).
The Government’s latest move - which overrides councils to clear the way for greater urban density and taller developments in select suburbs - was described earlier this month by mayor Phil Mauger as “a kick in the guts”, while Cr Andrei Moore said it was the council’s “complete balls up” which got them there.
MacDonald said on Wednesday in response to the minister’s criticism that the council has the evidence to prove it has already allowed for 30 years’ of housing growth, which would allow it to opt out of the requirement for a plan change.
“It's so unfortunate that somehow we've been criticised … my view is that Christchurch has led to a fundamental change in National policy that wouldn't have existed if we didn't push back.
“I just don't accept that the money and the time we spent on it has been wasted, because we've got a fundamental change,“ MacDonald said.
“The National Party changed their campaign policies because of what Christchurch did.”
In response to MacDonald’s comments, Bishop on Wednesday evening called Christchurch’s actions “nuts”.
“I consider Sam a friend and respect him greatly, but I stand by my comments that the council has resisted clear direction from central government to enable more housing,” he said.
“The NPS-UD was enacted in 2020, and five years later the plan change has just been enacted - and even then only in part. That is nuts.”