Christchurch City Council has announced it will ask the Government for more time to make a final decisions about its Housing and Business Choice Plan Change.
The Council today approved asking the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, for an extension to the current 12 December 2025 deadline for the remainder of its Plan Change 14 decisions. It will seek an extension until 30 September 2026.
Mayor Phil Mauger said it was important the Council makes the most of the opportunities available to it when it comes to a process as significant as Plan Change 14.
“This plan change has been a huge undertaking for our city, and we’ve said right the way through that we want to get the best results we possibly can out of it,” said the Mayor.
“An extension from the Minister would mean we’d have more time to weigh up whether we want to opt out of further housing intensification and, if so, go through the proper steps to decide and apply for that with the Government in time for September next year.
“We’ve come so far, and these are not at all small decisions we’re dealing with. So, it makes sense to at least ask the question of the Minister and potentially put ourselves in a better position when it comes to deciding on how the city takes shape over the coming decades.”
The Government has proposed a Bill to modify the Resource Management Act to allow councils to withdraw undecided parts of Intensification Planning Instruments, such as Plan Change 14, which is expected to become law in August.
The staff report tabled at today’s Council meeting said the Council would not be able to evaluate its options until the modified RMA came into effect. Once in effect, the process to consider options, meet any evaluative requirements and seek the approval of the Minister was certain to push beyond the current 12 December 2025 deadline, it stated.
To date, the Council has only made decisions on Plan Change 14 that relate to policies 3 and 4 of the Government’s National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), which require greater building development within and around the central city, suburban commercial centres, and planned high-frequency and high-capacity public transport routes.
In May last year, Minister Bishop approved the Council’s request for a time extension to parts of Plan Change 14, specifically those that relate to the Government’s Medium-Density Residential Standards (MDRS) being applied beyond areas defined in the NPS-UD, meaning the Council is yet to decide what housing intensification will look like for the remainder of the city.
MDRS was proposed to apply across all urban Christchurch, but the opt-out process proposed by the Government may allow the Council to prevent it from applying to those parts of Plan Change 14 yet to be decided.
Under MDRS, up to three dwellings of up to three storeys can be developed on a property without needing to apply for a resource consent if all other rules have been met.
