Updates on the proposed Housing and Business Choice Plan Change.

5 June 2025 update

Hon Chris Bishop has issued his decision on Council’s alternative PC14 recommendations. The decision takes immediate effect and will be fully operative once Council publishes the public notice, expected in the week of 16 June.

The Minister has accepted the Council's proposals for:

  • Local Centre Intensification Precinct.
  • Increased 36m building height overlay for 25 Deans Avenue.
  • High Density Residential zoning alignment for Milton Street.

The Minister has deferred decision-making for Daresbury heritage listing, Antonio Hall heritage listing, and Piko Character Area until Council decides on the underlying zoning. All other council alternative recommendations have been rejected and the IHP recommendation has instead been adopted.

Read the decision: Letter to Christchurch City Council re IHP recommendations – 5 June 2025 [PDF, 504 KB]

Read the full story on Newsline: Minister has final say on housing density rules for Christchurch(external link)

Get the latest updates about District Plan changes

Decision Chapters

Please find below the mapping of the 2 December decision on Plan Change 14:

A further decision on the balance of Plan Change 14 is required by the end of 2025. This will decide on the Medium Density Residential Zoning of suburban areas (but not surrounding larger commercial centres).

It is expected that this will also reflect the upcoming Government-led changes to provide councils with a way to opt out of the MDRS (Medium Density Residential Standards), which otherwise directs councils to deliver medium density across urban residential zones. This option is subject to changes to the law, meeting specific criteria, and a decision by Council.

Correction of minor errors to District Plan

Following the decisions on PC14, the Council has issued the following correction of minor errors in the District Plan via Clause 20A of Schedule 1 of the RMA.

2 December 2024 update

The Council has accepted 58 recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) regarding the intensification within and around many urban commercial centres as required by Policy 3 of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD).

This introduces High Density Residential Zoning around 10 commercial centres and Medium Density Residential Zoning around some 30 other commercial centres, while also up-zoning other zones within and adjoining these catchments.

In addition, the Council approved 20 Councillor alternative recommendations and rejected the IHP’s recommendations in the process. Those decisions that accepted the IHP’s recommendations will effectively replace current District Plan rules once the Council publicly notifies the decisions on 12 December 2024. From this date, all Councillor alternative recommendations will also have legal effect, alongside the equivalent rules in the operative District Plan.

All alternatives are subject to a final decision by the Minister for RMA Reform, which is expected in early 2025. A detailed summary of the Council’s decisions(external link) can be viewed on Newsline.

These chapters are an interim record of the operative and proposed plan until the ePlan is updated in February 2025. Chapters will be published here when drafting is complete.

The Council has made two decisions on some of the IHP recommendations on PC14, on 18 September and 2 December 2024.

Those decisions primarily decide on IHP recommendations for implementing Policy 3 of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) which focuses on and around commercial centres.

The Council’s decisions of 2 December 2024 will not be incorporated into ePlan until approximately 14 February 2025. Those decisions are:

  1. Accepting some IHP recommendations. These are operative from public notice of that decision on 12 December 2024.
  2. Rejecting some IHP recommendations. The rejected recommendations have no legal effect.
  3. For rejected IHP recommendations, alternative proposed provisions recommended to the Minister. Those alternative provisions are in legal effect as proposed provisions, alongside the operative Plan, from public notice of that decision on 12 December 2024.  

These chapters therefore contain:

  1. The base is the operative provisions in ePlan. These include the Council’s PC14 decisions on 18 September 2024.
  2. The operative IHP recommendations accepted by the Council on 2 December 2024.
  3. Council’s alternative recommendations to the Minister (in legal effect)
  4. Consequential changes: those that were either directed in the IHP Recommendation for the chapter or a minor amendment under Clause 20A of the First Schedule of the Resource Management Act.   

The Council anticipates that the Minister’s decision on whether to adopt the alternative recommendations will be in early 2025.

The Council does not intend to decide on the balance of the IHP recommendations until after the changes to the NPS-UD and the commencement of the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act in 2025.

Decision chapters

The Council decided to accept the Independent Hearings Panel’s (IHP) recommendations for part of the City Centre Zone, excluding certain areas (map)(external link). Key recommendations that were accepted include: 

  • A building heights framework that means all complying buildings less than 28m high do not require resource consent.  
  • Buildings between 28m and 45m in height require a resource consent, and the building design is subject to controls, but the Council cannot decline it if the building meets specific design requirements.  
  • For buildings over 45m in height, resource consent is required and, again, the building is subject to design matters, but the Council can decline resource consent.     

It also decided to accept the IHP recommendations on other provisions required to be updated due to changes to the City Centre Zone: subdivision rules, earthwork rules, transport rules, noise rules, light spill rules and light spill standard by zone table, and sign rules.    

The Council decided to accept the IHP recommendations on the following qualifying matters relevant to the City Centre Zone:   

  • Avon River Precinct (Te Papa Ōtākaro) Zone and Open Space Community Parks   
  • Waterbody setbacks (all provisions)   
  • Heritage items and settings (mapping only)   
  • Significant trees (all provisions) as they relate to the City Centre Zone.   

The Council decided to accept the IHP recommendations on some Heritage items and settings:   

  • To change the location of the listing for the Citizens’ War Memorial within Cathedral Square   
  • To remove the following heritage items and settings from protection in the District Plan:   
  • 471 Ferry Road   
  • 137 Cambridge Terrace – Harley Chambers 
  • 40 Norwich Quay (demolished)   
  • 136 Barbadoes Street – Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament (demolished)   
  • 32 Armagh Street – Blue Cottage   
  • 65 Riccarton Road – St James’ Church.

Council has sought to make further minor amendments and consequential changes to Chapter 15 under the First Schedule of the Resource Management Act, as authorised by the Head of Planning and Consents. Please see the memo dated 23 September 2024. [PDF, 22 MB]

In accordance with the direction of the Independent Hearings Panel (IHP), the Council issued its Council reply following the close of hearings on Plan Change 14. This represents the final Council recommendation to the IHP based on the evidence presented following the s42A reports and during the rebuttal and the hearing.

Visit the IHP's website for all Council Reply documents: chch2023.ihp.govt.nz/hearings/(external link)

See the following link for Council Reply planning mapping: arcg.is/inHjv0(external link)

The Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) appointed to hear Plan Change 14 has a separate website – chch2023.ihp.govt.nz(external link) – where you can find the minutes of the IHP, memos and evidence filed by the Council and other parties.

You can also find memos filed by the Council and minutes of the IHP below, under Council memos to IHP and IHP minutes(external link).

Further updates and information from the IHP will be posted on its website.

Minister Chris Bishop has advised the Council that the Government will grant an extension for decisions on those parts of Plan Change 14 that do not implement policies 3 and 4 of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) until December 2025, but it still expects the remainder of the plan change to complete the implementation of the NPS-UD by 20 December this year.

Minister Chris Bishop was provided with the Council's alternative recommendations on the Policy 3 decision of Plan Change 14 from 2 December 2024 under Clause 101(2) of the First Schedule of the Resource Management Act on 24 February 2025. The following provides the relevant documentation and any correspondence:

Please note: The report contains an error on page 12 when describing the anticipated zoning for either decision on the Piko Residential Character Area. This should instead describe that the anticipated zoning under the scenario of the Council’s adoption of the IHP Recommendation (to retain the Character Area in a reduced form) would be Medium Density Residential Zone (MRZ), while the anticipated zoning under adoption of the Council Alternative Recommendation (to remove the Character Area) would be to retain operative zoning of Residential Suburban Density Transition zone (RSDT).

Please check the Independent Hearings Panel webpage chch2023.ihp.govt.nz(external link) for Council evidence.

View interactive Notified PC13 and PC14 combined map.(external link)

Alternatively, below are downloadable and printable PDF maps.  These planning maps are proposed to be updated.  The numbers correspond to the grid used in the operative District Plan(external link).

Use our online tree canopy and financial contributions calculator(external link) to work out what tree canopy cover or financial contribution is required for your site.

Proposed Plan Change 14 (PC14) – Housing and Business Choice, introduces a new requirement to provide a 20% tree canopy cover on residential development sites.

It additionally requires a 15% canopy cover to be planted in new road corridors created in greenfield or brownfield residential subdivisions. The rules, contained in the proposed new Chapter 6.10A of PC14 [PDF, 679 KB], provide an option of paying financial contributions in lieu of tree planting. The contributions will be used for off-site tree planting by the Council.

District Plan Change update webinar (Thursday 16 February 2023)

Housing and Business Choice Plan Change 14 (Wednesday 14 December 2022)

Vacuum sewer and other limiting infrastructure (Wednesday 20 April 2022)

Residential intensification (Monday 2 May 2022)

Commercial intensification (Tuesday 3 May 2022)

Please check the Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) webpage(external link) for Council memos to the IHP and IHP minutes.

PC14 Council Submission [PDF, 150 KB]

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

A number of properties within the Tsunami Management Area were wrongly zoned on some of the planning maps notified for Plan Change 14. As a result, you may have received a letter from Christchurch City Council about this. 

Properties were mistakenly zoned as either Medium Density Residential Zone (MRZ) or High-Density Residential Zone (HRZ). However, there should be no MRZ or HRZ within the Tsunami Management Area – only Residential Suburban Zone or Residential Suburban Density Transition Zone. 

The Council has made its own submission on Plan Change 14 (available on this webpage) and part of that submission corrects this mistake. It proposes to only allow development in the Tsunami Management Area in line with rules for the Residential Suburban Zone, which allows for one house per lot, and Residential Suburban Density Transition Zone, which allows for multi-unit development subject to standards (e.g. height limit, setbacks).

Check whether your property sits within the Tsunami Management Area by using our interactive map. 

Or learn more about Plan Change 14’s proposed changes to the Residential Suburban Zone and Residential Suburban Density Transition Zone in the District Plan text amendments document(external link) (also available on this webpage).