‘Horribly deaf’: Christchurch council faces new planning rules

Rules that would increase building heights and remove minimum car parking requirements in parts of Christchurch have been called “horribly 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, published in July, which aimed to increase housing development in urban areas.

Five “tier one” cities, including Christchurch, would be ordered to release rules around planning decisions.

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

Today, the council’s Urban Development and Transportation Committee, which was comprised of all city councilors and the mayor, was briefed on this work and discussed the impacts the NPS could have on Christchurch.

He also voted to request a meeting with local members of Parliament to raise concerns about the impact of the meeting on the district and to write directly to the responsible minister to express the council’s concerns.

Many councilors said at the meeting that the NPS appeared to be aimed at fixing problems in Auckland and would instead cause problems in Christchurch, especially around the availability of car parking in the city, a topic that came up frequently on the table. of Council.

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.

Councilor James Gough called it “nothing more than an Auckland politician.”

“Some of our biggest planning problems in the city is parking, or the lack of it.”

He said the “horribly tone deaf” NPS was like “poking a round peg into a square hole.”

Councilman Sam MacDonald urged residents to “stand up” and write to their local MPs and make their voices heard.

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

Several councilors 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 Council Member Yani Johanson.

“I don’t see any need for the government to tell us what to do.”

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said no one was opposed to escalation, but what they were opposed to was excessive escalation where the values ​​of amenities could be destroyed.

“The feeling I have is that the problems have been identified in Auckland and the solutions are very Auckland-centric, 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, he said.

“There are a number of challenges that lie ahead.”

They were also working on issues related to the interpretation of the areas defined in the NPS.