Four years, millions spent, and little to show, says Moore
Christchurch City Council’s long-running battle against government-mandated housing intensification has drawn harsh criticism from within, with Halswell Ward councillor Andrei Moore (pictured) calling it a costly distraction.
“We’ve spent millions of dollars and four years, only to end up making a complete balls-up of the plan,” Moore said.
He argued the council’s resistance delayed vital planning work and led to inconsistencies, such as “where you can build up to 10 storeys in an outer suburb like Hornby, but in some areas surrounding the central city you can’t build up at all, and frankly that’s just stupid, and bad planning,” RNZ reported.
Meanwhile, despite these policy tensions, Christchurch house prices are nearing their post-COVID peak, with the average property value rising 1.4% in the three months to May 2025. At $798,000, values are now just $4,000 below the June 2022 record of $802,000, according to OneRoof and Valocity data.
Government overrides council’s stance on zoning
Last week, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop rejected most of the council’s changes to Plan Change 14, confirming high-density zoning around key suburban centres – despite the council’s objections.
Mayor Phil Mauger called it a “kick in the guts,” but the minister’s decision is final and cannot be appealed, leaving only the option of a judicial review.
Moore: Poor strategy and missed opportunities
Moore said the council had been “trying its luck” with ministerial referrals instead of focusing on sound evidence.
“Our council ended up trying to oppose intensification basically everywhere it could – it wasn’t very strategic,” he said.
The delay caused knock-on effects. “We’ve got this great big pile-up of plan changes we need to be doing. The central city noise plan change, for example, ideally that would have got underway years ago,” Moore said.
He also noted the flawed outcomes of the council’s efforts, saying the process failed to encourage much-needed apartment development.
“Apartments are often so much better designed than townhouses are, but because it’s so hard to build them in Christchurch, they’re not getting built.”
He criticised the dominance of two- to three-storey townhouses in the city centre as a “waste of space – that’s exactly where you need to build up.”
Moore: Resistance driven by privilege, not planning
Moore pushed back against resident backlash, saying many critics lacked empathy.
“Many opponents of the changes had never had to take out an emergency loan to pay their rent,” he said. “I struggle a lot more when people have nowhere to live.”
Residents’ leader: Developers now have 'free rein'
Tony Simons, chair of the Combined Residents' Association and a council candidate, agreed the drawn-out process had been wasteful – but for different reasons.
“Unfortunately, I don’t believe Plan Change 14 is going to address housing affordability much at all,” Simons told RNZ. “What Chris Bishop has decided is to let developers build what they want, pretty much where they want, and that’s a shame.”
Simons argued that smaller apartments permitted under the new rules are already oversupplied.
“We’re not building housing for families… those sorts of properties in the inner city are slowly disappearing,” he said.
Simons embraced the ‘NIMBY’ label, but framed it differently: “When I talk about my backyard, I’m talking about Christchurch… I’m talking about protecting the city, the fabric of Christchurch.”
Experts urge focus on quality and location
University of Auckland planning expert Bill McKay said the changes won’t trigger a building frenzy overnight.
“When we make planning changes, it’s like turning the tap on to fill the bath… it doesn’t mean these changes will happen immediately everywhere,” McKay said.
He said apartments can improve housing diversity if done right.
“We’ve got some very good five-, six-storey apartment buildings going up in Auckland… once people buy into those apartment buildings… they don’t come up for sale much again,” McKay said, contrasting that with the more transient nature of townhouse developments.
But he warned poor-quality design would backfire.
“It’s not whether the apartment building or townhouse is good or bad, it’s whether it’s in the right place and crucially, whether it’s built to a decent quality – otherwise we’re just building slums for ourselves in the future,” McKay said.
Templeton: It’s time to move forward
Heathcote Ward councillor and mayoral candidate Sara Templeton said the council must now focus on delivery.
“We are due to grow by over 30,000 within Christchurch city in the next 10 years and these people need homes to live in,” Templeton said. “It’s time that we get on with it.”
She acknowledged the process had been “really time consuming,” but said developers need certainty.
What’s next: MDRS decision due by December
The council must decide by December whether to adopt the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS), which would allow three three-storey townhouses on most sites without resource consent.
However, a bill currently before Parliament could allow councils to opt out of MDRS. The Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill is with the Environment Select Committee, which is expected to report back this month.
