Christchurch housing intensification plan costs ratepayers $8m - and it’s not over

Monday, 17 November 2025

Boosting Christchurch’s housing supply has cost ratepayers more than $8 million and consumed 30,000 hours of council staff time - that’s the equivalent of one person working for 15 years.

A line was finally drawn under Plan Change 14 (PC14) this week when the Government granted Christchurch City Council an exemption to city-wide intensification, limiting the potential for three, three-storey homes per section to one-quarter of the city’s residential zones.

However, a new law is looming that will lead to even greater intensification.

PC14 has been the single biggest issue dominating the council for the last five years.

It has cost ratepayers $8m in staff time, consultants, commissioners and hearing panel costs, council planning and consents head Mark Stevenson said.

Staff have spent more than 30,000 hours on PC14, he said. That amounts to one person working for 15 years - based on a 40 hour working week and a 48-week working year.

Even with the exemption, PC14 has still resulted in the city gaining enough housing capacity for 30 years by lifting height limits and increasing density in the central city and in suburban commercial centres.

It has led to a 50% increase in medium density zoning.

High density zoning has also increased six-fold. It was previously contained within the central city, but has now expanded to encompass suburban centres including Church Corner, Riccarton, Hornby, Linwood, Shirley, Merivale, Edgeware, and Papanui.

The zone enables building heights of 14m around the suburban centres, 39m in the inner central city and 22m within the four avenues.

But this capacity will not be enough to spare the city from further Government moves to intensify housing. It has a new plan, Going for Housing Growth, that is likely to lead to at least six storeys within 600m of high frequency bus routes and Riccarton and Papanui Rds.

RMA reform minister Chris Bishop said this week the Going for Housing Growth proposals, which were still in draft form, will apply to Christchurch. They will be delivered through the Government’s new planning and environmental management system, designed to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA), he said.

Stevenson said there was no indication the council would be exempt from the proposals, but it had yet to see the proposed legislation.

The city now has capacity for at least 68,200 homes, but Stevenson said only part of Going for Housing Growth was achieved via PC14.

PC14 was introduced to enact two sets of housing density rules announced in 2020 and 2021 by the then Labour government, with National’s support at the time.

At its heart was a plan to increase height levels in and around the central city and suburban commercial centres and grow housing capacity by allowing three, three-storey homes on one site across the city without a consent.

It caused an outcry.

Most of the city’s residents’ associations came together to fight against it, filling the public gallery at council meetings holding signs saying “Stop daylight robbery”. Councillors were not too happy either with one saying the plan was “horrifically tone-deaf”.

The mayor at the time, Lianne Dalziel, said she felt “extreme frustration” with central Government imposing “Auckland rules” on the city.

The council, in 2022, decided not to implement the new rules, with one councillor describing it as giving the “proverbial finger” to the Government. It sought a bespoke plan instead.

The Government then appointed a mediator and the council came up with a revised plan, which aimed to protect sunlight access and land on the fringe of Riccarton Bush.

An independent hearings panel spent months listening to hundreds of people’s views on the issue and in the end both the panel and the Government dismissed much of the council’s bespoke plan.

This paved the way for the higher density and height limits in the central city and some suburbs.

But there was still one major aspect of PC14 that needed to be addressed.

The council was still obliged to allow for three, three-storey homes on every section across the city without a consent.

Following a change of Government, National agreed to let Christchurch apply for an exemption to that rule.

There was a catch though - the council had to prove it had 30 years of sufficient feasible housing capacity plus 20%.

That amounted to 65,640 homes. The council presented the Government with a housing plan earlier this year that provided capacity for at least 68,200 homes and this week Bishop granted that exemption.

To gain that extra capacity the council increased the size of the newly designated central city and suburban zones covering areas including Church Corner, Riccarton, Hornby, Linwood, Shirley, Merivale, Edgeware, and Papanui.

The council said this week, decisions to date enable intensification in the right places, supporting public transport and the more efficient investment and management in infrastructure.

Riccarton Bush Kilmarnock Residents’ Association chairperson Tony Simons said this week, he was a little apprehensive about the impact of the changes.

Simons, who helped mobilise 20 of the city’s residents’ associations to oppose the added density, said many suburbs might have been spared, but there was now an incredible amount of housing capacity in the city.

Mayor Phil Mauger was not available to comment on the Government’s new intensification proposals, but earlier in the week said in a statement, he was “over the moon” the Government had granted the exemption.

“We know what’s best for our city, its unique character, environment and needs so this decision means we can keep the momentum going with planning rules that make Christchurch more and more liveable.”