Council approves next step to plan changes to provide more residential land

Christchurch City Council has approved two requests for public notification of proposed plan changes to its City Plan and given final approval to a plan change, which will provide more residential and business land for development. The Christchurch City Council adopted the Regulatory and Planning Committee’s recommendations today to publicly notify plan changes 67 and 66 – Highfield (residential development) and Templeton Special Rural zone. Highfield is a plan change to introduce a living zone in the east that will provide approximately 2200 homes. The Templeton Special Rural zone will allow for the use of the former Templeton Hospital site for a range of rural related activities. Chair of the Council’s Regulatory and Planning Committee, Councillor Sue Wells says, "The Council is very mindful of the housing demand and we are making sure our processes are keeping up with plan change proposals. The next step in the process will be publicly notifying the plan and inviting public submissions. “In the past there was a tendency by submitters to make very short submissions and wait until the matter was heard by the Environment Court to make a more detailed submission. As many planning processes have been fast tracked in the last year by the Minister of Earthquake Recovery, it would be very sensible of submitters to lodge full submissions at this stage of the process.” The Christchurch City Council also approved to make operative the changes to the City Plan, which will mean more than 1300 new houses can be developed in North West Belfast following an Environment Court decision. Sue Wells says, “The decision paves the way for landowners to begin the process of subdividing their land to permit residential development to occur. “The Council recognises the demand for new sections in the city and we are working hard to meet the needs of our residents as fast as the processes allow,” she says. Information on sections currently available in Christchurch and land zoned for future residential subdivision in Christchurch is now available on the Christchurch City Council’s website <a href="http://www.ccc.govt.nz/landavailability">www.ccc.govt.nz/landavailability</a> .The website also has information on the planning and subdivision process of making sections available in Christchurch.