Christchurch City Council Achieves Housing Growth Target, Withdraws Plan Change 14: Minister

Christchurch City Council has met its Housing Growth Target and is therefore able to withdraw part of Plan Change 14, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says.

Christchurch City Council’s Plan Change 14 (PC14) was notified in March 2023, and was designed to update the city’s planning rules to reflect national housing and urban development direction.

In particular, PC14 incorporated the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) and requirements of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), aiming to make it easier to build more homes across the city.

Like Auckland, Christchurch argued strongly that the one-size-fits-all approach of the MDRS wasn’t the right approach. In August, Parliament passed the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes Bill) allowing Christchurch to withdraw PC14, provided the Council could prove they had provided for 30 years of sufficient feasible housing capacity, with a 20 per cent contingency margin.

Based on advice from officials, including two peer reviews provided by the Council from Urbanomics and Sense Partners, I have decided that the Council has met this requirement.

Christchurch City Council has confirmed its housing plan provides for future growth, with modelling showing plan enabled feasible housing capacity for at least 68,200 homes, exceeding the 65,640 homes needed to meet the statutory requirement for 30 years of adjusted demand.

Christchurch is a vibrant, fast-growing city that’s booming with energy and opportunity.

People are flocking to Christchurch for the lifestyle, the jobs, the culture, and the buzz of a city that’s really coming into its own. With the new Te Kaha stadium nearing completion, thriving universities, and the vibrant city centre hospitality scene, Christchurch needs more homes in the right places to keep pace with its growth.

Freeing up land for development by removing unnecessary planning barriers is essential to increasing housing supply. The evidence is clear that more housing capacity leads to more homes being built, which helps bring down rents and make housing more affordable. The Council has delivered on this, and it’s a great result for the city.

Ministerial decisions are still pending on two heritage sites, Antonio Hall and Daresbury, and a special character area around Piko Crescent. These will be considered in the coming months.

Editor’s note: PC14 was introduced by the Council in March 2023 to give effect to the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 (NPS-UD) and implement the medium density residential standards (MDRS).

The Minister’s decision-making process is set out in clause 11, Schedule 3C of the RMA: Schedule 3C Alternative intensification provisions for Auckland and Christchurch The Council notified PC14 in March 2023. Public submissions on the proposals were sought between March and May 2023, with an Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) holding hearings in October and November 2023, and April 2024. The IHP presented its decisions to the Council on 29 July 2024.

The Council completed the parts of PC 14 that implemented the NPS-UD on 2 December 2024.