Minister rejects housing plan pause

Christchurch City Council is not allowed to pause work on its contentious housing intensification plan, Housing Minister Chris Bishop told the mayor yesterday.

The partly failed request comes nearly three months after the council first asked the Government for permission to pause work on new rules which would make it easier for people to build homes and commercial buildings taller and closer together.

In Bishop’s letter – published by the council at about 5pm yesterday – he said the plan change had to proceed because it was important to increase development capacity “as fast as possible”.

The one silver lining is he agreed to give an extension to decisions relating to the Medium Density Residential Standards, but he did not yet have a new deadline.

In a statement, mayor Phil Mauger explained this meant that although housing intensification had to still happen in the city centre and around commercial centres, for smaller residential areas they could stop and think. He said staff were now figuring out what council’s next steps are, and councillors would get an update later this month.

Mauger was unavailable to discuss the long awaited decision yesterday.

Tony Simons of the Riccarton Bush Kilmarnock Residents Association said the update was no surprise, but could not comment further until the council had elaborated on what it meant.

For residents living in Riccarton, Church Corner, Hornby and Papanui, he said, it could mean the plan proceeds as usual.

The city council wanted to pause the plan change process because it didn’t think the housing intensification rules brought in by the last government were suited to the city’s needs.

It was also responding to the concerns of many homeowners – including influential residential associations – who feared the new rules would devalue homes and lead to a loss of amenities like green spaces and direct sunlight.

Council asked the independent hearings panel (which hears and considers public feedback on the plan, then recommends changes to council) in January to stop working, in anticipation of the government approving its extension request.

With the request not supported, the council will need to figure out if the hearing panel gets less time than expected to consider public feedback, or if council itself has less time to incorporate feedback and make changes to the plan by the September 12 deadline.

In his statement, Mauger said it was good to have clarity from Bishop, but acknowledged that some residents will be concerned.

As of December, the council had spent $2.6 million on the hearings panel component of the plan change process, from a budget of $4.2m.

The panel was meant to resume work on January 30, but postponed its start date to March 18, at the request of council, to give Environment Minister Penny Simmonds (who was originally meant to make the decision) time to consider council’s request for a pause.