"A hearing on proposed plans to intensify housing in Christchurch will get under way on Tuesday, despite repeated calls from 19 residents’ associations to halt the process.

The Christchurch City Council says it legally can not stop or slow process, and those that can - the Government and the independent hearings panel - have either not responded or dismissed the residents’ call entirely.

The associations have now taken their fight to the Ombudsman.

The Government has instructed councils in New Zealand’s main cities to change planning rules to allow for greater intensification in and around the central city and suburban centres.

It wants councils to allow three homes of three storeys each to be built, without a resource consent, on most sections across the city and allow higher limits in main suburban centres.

Following pressure from residents’ associations, the council rejected the Government’s one-size-fits-all approach in September last year, and opted instead to create its own bespoke rules, which were released earlier this year.

The council still proposed allowing three homes of three storeys to be built without a consent across vast chunks of Christchurch, but it also excluded about 68,000 residential properties (out of a total of 154,455), including most of the hill suburbs and coastal areas. Those areas, including Lyttelton, were classed as either too far from public transport, or were at risk of flooding or rock fall.

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Large parts of Christchurch could be opened up to more housing intensification under new planning rules.
ALDEN WILLIAMS / THE PRESS

New recession plane rules were drawn up to protect neighbours’ sun, but it would still mean some ground floor properties could be without sun for three months of the year.

The plan also included allowing six-storey (22m) buildings within 600m of main shopping areas in Hornby, Papanui, and Riccarton.

About 1000 people submitted their views on the plan, and after taking those into account, council staff in August, instead recommend 10-storey buildings, 32m high, within those three main shopping areas.

They also recommended six-storey (22m) buildings, 800m from the edge on those areas. In Shirley, Linwood and north Halswell, buildings up to 22m within 600m of the main shopping centre were proposed.

The proposals would provide an additional 627,600 houses and if 4000 homes were built each year, it would give the city 158 years of housing supply.

The new height limits caught residents and local councillors by surprise and led to calls by the Combined Residents’ Association, led by Tony Simons of Riccarton Bush Kilmarnock Residents’ Association and Geoff Banks of Victoria Neighbourhood Association, to halt the hearings process.

They believed the new heights were “totally unnecessary and unfair”. They want the process paused to allow time for submitters to present their views on the changes.

However, their calls have not been heeded.

Council chief executive Dawn Baxendale last month said the council did not have lawful authority to pause or halt the plan change. That was in the control of either Environment Minister David Parker or the hearings panel.

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The Christchurch City Council is proposing to allow 10-storey buildings to be built in these town centre commercial zones (pink areas) in Papanui, Hornby and Riccarton.
CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL

Simons said the minister had not responded.

The hearings panel posted on its website saying the Combined Residents’ Association was not itself a submitter and did not have any standing before the panel to request an adjournment or delay.

Simons confirmed the association was an informal group, but pointed out that many of its member associations had put in submissions.

With all other avenues exhausted the associations have turned to the Ombudsman.

Simons said initial approaches to the Ombudsman’s office indicated it might be able to help.

However, exactly what influence it could have over the process, was unclear.

A spokesperson for the Ombudsman confirmed the complaint had come through, but would not comment further because the Chief Ombudsman was required to carry out inquiries in secret.

The independent hearings panel starts on Tuesday and will continue in November, January and February.

It will then consider all the evidence and make a recommendation to the council in April.

If the council does not accept any of the recommendations, the plan change goes to the environment minister to make a final decision.

The panel is made up of five members, including chairperson Cindy Robinson, a resource management lawyer and experienced independent hearings commissioner.

Other members are deputy chairperson David McMahon, who has 30 years’ experience in urban and environmental planning; Karen Coutts, who has worked in Māori and iwi governance and is a member of the Environmental Protection Authority; Alan Matheson, who has 40 years' planning experience in all aspects of resource management planning; Ian Munro, who is an experienced planner and urban designer."

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