Christchurch withdraws from further housing intensification

Today the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop approved Christchurch City Council’s withdrawal of the remaining parts of Plan Change 14 – related to applying national Medium-Density Residential Standards (MDRS).  

“I am absolutely over the moon the Government has allowed us to withdraw from intensifying the rest of Christchurch,” Mayor Phil Mauger said.  

“We know what’s best for our city, it’s 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.” 

“I also want to say thank you to the Minister for his pragmatic decision and to Council staff for all their hard work which has got us to this point,” Mayor Mauger said.  

MDRS was originally proposed to apply across all residential areas of urban Christchurch, but the opt-out process introduced to the Resource Management Act allowed the Council to request to withdraw the remainder of Plan Change 14.  

In September, the Council approved some of the plan change’s Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) recommendations for further housing intensification. 

To apply to withdraw the remainder of Plan Change 14 before the Government’s 12 December deadline on decision-making, the Council was required to zone land for enough commercially viable housing to meet 30 years of expected “high growth” demand, as projected by Statistics New Zealand, with a further 20 per cent added to that figure as a buffer. In total, some 65,600 commercially viable houses need to be enabled in Christchurch. 

The Council was able to demonstrate that the required number of commercially feasible residential units were possible.  

The approved IHP recommendations mean there is more medium-density housing zoning around the intensification areas already enabled as part of the Council’s December 2024 decisions on Plan Change 14, including the city centre, Church Corner, Riccarton, Hornby, Linwood, Shirley, Merivale, Edgeware, and Papanui.  

Total medium density zoning has increased by 50% under PC14, now making up almost a quarter of all residential zones. High density zoning has increased 6-fold, and where previously only contained within the central city, is now expanded to encompass an additional nine of the city’s most significant commercial centres and their surrounds.  

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

Initially sought to be released in late 2022, the plan change was only approved for release in March 2023 after the Council directed staff to create a proposal suited to Christchurch’s context.  

Over this period, and through the development of the legislation that directed intensification, the government heard how a more bespoke proposal was needed. 

This resulted in the legislative requirements been amended to provide a means for intensification to the most suited areas across Christchurch – an ability unique only to Christchurch and Auckland.  

The withdrawal brings a close to a multi-year process the Council was required to implement.