Minister of RMA reform Chris Bishop has responded to Christchurch City Council’s alternative proposals around its district plan. His decisions have consequences for transport and house prices as the southern city grows.
Where will future housing growth in Christchurch go? Will new houses be built on the outskirts of the city, or close to the centre? A decision by RMA reform minister Chris Bishop made earlier this month goes some way to answering these questions.
Bishop rejected the majority of changes Christchurch City Council had wanted to make to its district plan (called Plan Change 14), which were an alternative to changes that had been recommended by the city’s independent hearings panel in 2024. The council had accepted the majority of the panel’s recommendations in December 2024, including building heights of 14 metres in all commercial centres, higher limits in certain areas, higher buildings in walking catchments around shopping centres and removing character protections in some areas.
But, the council proposed alternatives for 20 of the changes it did not accept, which had to be approved by the RMA minister. One was having “sunlight access” as a factor when considering new housing; essentially saying that because of Christchurch’s lower latitude compared to cities in the North Island, buildings shouldn’t be allowed to be built as high because they would block sunlight for neighbouring homes. Campaigners against the nationwide building height increase in urban areas used the slogan “stop daylight robbery”.
The council proposed lower heights of buildings in Christchurch than the MDRS (Medium Density Residential Standards) mandates, to make the amount of sun access even. Bishop rejected this alternative request, as well as limits to high-density specifications in the suburbs of Riccarton, Linwood and Hornby, which all have big populations and commercial centres as well as historic housing, and therefore good potential for intensification but also residents with concerns about growth. However, he approved three of the suggestions, including further intensification around designated suburban centres Northwest Belfast, Bishopdale, Wigram, Prestons, Sydenham South and Richmond. Bishop added Barrington and Halswell to the list of areas approved for perimeter block housing too.
Christchurch City Council had initially rejected the previous government’s efforts to make intensification rules consistent across the country through the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) in 2022, wanting a custom approach rather than a national standard. However, despite multiple time extensions, Christchurch eventually had to go through the process of adopting policies 3 and 4 of the NPS-UD, which focus on intensification in urban areas, as well as the MDRS. “Together, these decisions will enable a greater level of development in and around Christchurch City’s urban centres,” said Bishop in a press release announcing his decision.
“This doesn’t feel like the best outcome [for our city],” said Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger in a press release responding to Bishop’s decision. “In putting these decisions forward to the government, we obviously wanted to get all of our alternative recommendations approved. So, to only have three of them get the tick is a kick in the guts.”
Sara Templeton, a councillor for the Heathcote area who is also running for mayor, said the minister’s decision was not unexpected, and now it was time to get on with it. Christchurch needed more housing to accommodate future growth, she said. “Christchurch is forecast to increase by 30,000 people in the next decade – that’s the size of Timaru,” she said. “We can’t keep sprawling onto the productive soils around Christchurch.”
Residents associations were supportive of Christchurch City Council having a custom district plan, and disappointed by Bishop’s decision. “If there is a housing supply shortage, it’s probably in those sorts of properties in the inner city, which are slowly disappearing,” said Tony Simons, a representative of a group of residents associations, as reported by RNZ. “What Chris Bishop has decided is to let developers build what they want, pretty much where they want, and that’s a shame.”
The urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi supported Bishop’s decision, saying the changes would allow walkable communities in areas like Riccarton and Papanui; much of the growth is around shopping centres. “Allowing more homes where people want to live is an important step for the future of Ōtautahi. This means that people are able to live with dignity in a home that is more affordable,” said Greater Ōtautahi chairperson M Grace-Stent in a press release.
The whole process raises questions about how local and central government interact, and whether the government is truly embracing “localism”. “My preference is for central government to let local gov know the outcomes it wants and hold local government to account for heading in that direction,” Templeton said. This would allow councils like Christchurch to make sure a more “strategic” approach was adopted as the city intensified housing, ensuring new housing was concentrated in areas where amenities and public transport already existed.
“When we sprawl, it increases rates for residents over time,” said Templeton, who wants transport planning to be aligned with housing intensification. “Growth in areas without transport means more cars on the outskirts, more driving through neighbourhoods, more traffic at rush hour.”
Christchurch City Council hasn’t approved the MDRS, and currently has until the end of the year to do so. However, that looks likely to change; a bill revising the current Resource Management Act (RMA) was introduced with a provision that councils could opt out of the MDRS if they had provided for 30 years of housing growth in their district or unitary plans. Following Auckland Council’s decision not to approve intensification around rapid public transport corridors like the City Rail Link stations, the environment select committee recommended amendments to the bill that would still allow Auckland and Christchurch to opt out of the MDRS, but require them both to follow “bespoke” processes that would mandate more intensification around urban centres and public transport hubs.
This piece was updated to reflect that in addition to the council’s list of areas where perimeter block housing was approved, Bishop accepted changes to zone Barrington and Halswell for perimeter block housing.
