Ōtautahi- Christchurch — a growing city

Ōtautahi-Christchurch is going from strength to strength as a city, and our population is growing as more people discover the benefits of living and working here.

We are an attractive option for those looking to relocate. Those who call Ōtautahi-Christchurch home can enjoy an unrivalled lifestyle, good employment opportunities and access to a diverse landscape and range of outdoor activities right on their doorstep.

House prices in the city are also more affordable than those in the country’s other large city centres. In 2021, the average house value in the city was around six times the average annual income, whilst in Auckland and Wellington City it was eight and ten times respectively. There’s also the easy commute in a city where nearly every destination is no more than 20 minutes away along with access to four world-class universities.

Planning ahead

Our growing population is driving demand for more homes. Over the next 30 years, it’s predicted we’ll need over 50,000 more houses in Ōtautahi-

Christchurch to ensure everyone has a place to live, and we’re planning for that now to provide for future generations.

We are proposing changes to our District Plan to accommodate our continued growth and prosperity. These District Plan changes will affect how and where our city grows, how we move around, the type of housing we live in, and how we adapt and respond to climate change and coastal hazards.

We need to make sure that we can cater for growth by putting more houses in the right parts of our city — and we need to respect mana whenua values and protect aspects that make us unique, so people continue to want to live and thrive here.

National direction

Some of the changes to our planning rules are driven at a national level via the National Policy Statement — Urban Development (NPS-UD) and the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act. Through these, the Government has set a clear direction on how towns and cities should develop.

Under the Act, in most urban residential zones of the city, we must enable medium density housing. That means people will be allowed to build up to three houses per section, and up to 12 metres high (usually three storeys depending on design), without a resource consent.

The NPS-UD requires even greater levels of development — both residential and commercial — to be allowed within and near the central city, suburban commercial centres and mass rapid transit stops. A hierarchy of commercial centres is proposed with different zones around these that will enable increased building height over and above 12 metres.

Building more houses on our existing footprint will bring benefits. It means we don’t need to build houses on the precious, versatile soils on our suburban fringe. The closer people live to work and school, the less travelling we need to do, which results in fewer emissions.

Not all areas suitable

We are conscious that people have concerns about the impact these changes will have on the character of their neighbourhood and their homes.

While we are following the Government’s direction to enable more housing, we are also working to protect areas of the city that we believe are not suitable

for intensive housing development. Some areas have qualities — known as Qualifying Matters — which mean rules enabling increased development will not apply, or the level we enable increased development will be limited and remain subject to resource consent approval.

These include coastal areas, where there is a high risk of flooding or erosion as sea levels rise, as well as special character or heritage areas. There are also some areas where infrastructure constraints exist.

Change brings opportunities

Changing the way we do things is challenging and sometimes it is hard to imagine how our future may look.

But change also brings opportunity. Re-thinking some of our planning rules will allow more housing choice to accommodate the growing diversity of people who choose to live in our city. With families getting smaller and people getting older, living preferences are changing and we need more, and different types of, housing stock to suit everyone.

It’s important to remember, although these changes allow for more housing to be built, this won’t happen city-wide overnight. Ōtautahi-Christchurch will gradually evolve as our population grows and demand for more and different types of housing increases.

Lianne Dalziel

Mayor, Christchurch City Council