Everyone living in Christchurch is affected by late (not notified) changes that Christchurch City Council is proposing for Plan Change 14, allowing 10 storey buildings in our suburbs... even taller than they told us they wanted.

Riccarton is worst affected with the city council supporting eight to ten storey residential buildings from Westfield Mall to Hagley Park.

We all thought we might be getting six storeys around our main shopping malls.  That was bad enough.  Now the city council is pushing for even taller buildings around most big retail areas in the city, including Hornby, Papanui, and Riccarton from Blenheim Rd north to the Avon River. 

The photo on this petition is an impression of a nine storey building, showing how it might look on the north side of Matai St West, shading the uni-cycleway. 

The city council wants 28 metre tall buildings in this area, the same height currently permitted in the CBD.

These buildings would block sunlight, ruin privacy and drive existing communities out.

Earlier this year city council staff (in a technical report on PC14) stated that “the (housing) market is not currently, nor in the very long term, majorly constrained to meet demand.”  In other words it said we already have enough houses and capacity to meet long-term demand.

“Further, any increased enablement is unlikely to significantly improve housing affordability for entry level homeowners and those most financially stressed.” 

The outgoing Minister of Housing, Megan Woods consistently argued PC14 will deliver cheaper homes, yet the city council’s own planning experts say she’s wrong.  Intensification will not deliver greater affordability.

So, why do this?

We attended a meeting with senior council planners on September 11th.  They say these changes will enable enough density to support a population not expected for another 158 years [ref: https://tinyurl.com/PressPC14

That simply invites builders and developers to build as high as they like, where they like, ripping out mature trees and replacing gardens with concrete.

City council planning head, John Higgins (Stuff 22 Sept), when asked why the council was planning for enough housing supply to last another five or six generations, simply said... the government requires intensification to occur in certain areas, which has resulted in that amount of supply.

That is so wrong.

This extreme densification is irresponsible, not required, and completely undermines our focus on getting more residents back into the central city. 

It also ruins our vision for a low rise city that the vast majority of us supported after the earthquakes, and it is forcing families out.

Plan Change 14 should be paused or stopped to give time for new submissions, and to prepare a proper city plan for Christchurch that meets our needs for the foreseeable future (the next 30 years).

Please sign our petition, and share it.
Help stop this.