'Horrifically tone-deaf': Christchurch council grapples with new planning rules

The council's Urban Development and Transport committee. Photo / Logan Church

Rules that would increase building heights and scrap minimum car-parking requirements in parts of Christchurch have been called "horrifically tone-deaf" and an "Auckland plan written by Wellington bureaucrats".

It comes as the Christchurch City Council works on an implementation plan for the National Policy Statement (NPS) on Urban Development, released in July, which aimed to increase housing development in urban areas.

Five "tier-one" cities, which included Christchurch, would be directed to free up rules around planning decisions.

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The Christchurch City Council was directed to make changes to its District Plan, which included scrapping – without public consultation – all minimum car parking requirements by February 2022 and increase building heights and densities in certain parts of the city by August 2022.

Today, the council's Urban Development and Transport Committee – which was made up of all city councillors and the mayor – was briefed on this work and discussed the impacts the NPS could have on Christchurch.

The Christchurch City Council building on Hereford St. Photo / NZ Herald

It also voted to request a meeting with local Members of Parliament to raise concerns about the impact of it on the district and to write directly to the minister responsible expressing the council's concerns.

Many councillors told the meeting the NPS seemed directed at fixing problems in Auckland, and would instead cause problems in Christchurch, especially around the availability of car parking in the city - an issue that frequently came up around the council table.

Deputy mayor Andrew Turner said it could also result in a small number of high-rise buildings and a large number of vacant sites – which was already a problem in Christchurch.

Councillor, James Gough, called it "nothing more than an Auckland policy".

"Some of our biggest planning issues in the city is parking - or the lack of it."

He said the "horrifically tone-deaf" NPS was like "cramming a round peg into a square hole".

Councillor, Sam MacDonald, urged residents to "rise up" and write to their local MPs and make their voices heard.

He said it looked like an "Auckland plan written by Wellington bureaucrats".

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Several councillors also spoke about the extensive planning that had gone into Christchurch since the earthquakes.

"This city has been over-planned for the last decade," said councillor Yani Johanson.

"I can't see any need for the Government telling us what to do."

Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel said nobody was opposed to intensification, but what they were opposed to was over-intensification where amenity values could be destroyed.

"The feeling that I have is that the problems have been identified in Auckland and the solutions are very much focused on Auckland - they don't belong here."

The council was now looking at its district plan and what it could do in the context of the NPS, she said.

"There are a number of challenges that are ahead of us."

Issues around the interpretation of areas defined in the NPS were also being worked through.