Council able to meet the demand for land availability
The earthquakes have caused an increase in demand for new sections and the Council is working to ensure there is plenty of land available to meet the demand.
Christchurch City Council today adopted a report which links the timing of land availability and the anticipated completion of infrastructure servicing these areas.
Mayor Bob Parker says the Council’s capital work programme will be developed to take into account services such as roads, sewage and water for these new areas. The Council is confident we can provide these services in time for land to be brought to the market by developers.
“This is very welcome news for people looking for land. Considering this report only covers the availability of land in greenfield areas the city is well positioned to accommodate future urban growth and development.”
The report shows there is potential for 22,435 sections to be made available for development in the city’s greenfield areas of Christchurch City.
The Council has already rezoned sufficient land within the Metropolitan Urban Limit to provide up to 10,390 sections:
Current greenfield areas rezoned in Christchurch City:
- Aidanfield 160 (sections)
- Masham 490
- Wigram 2,137
- Fulton Hogan 1,462
- Awatea 1,210
- South East Halswell (Quarry view only) 27
- Prestons 2,300
- Belfast Park 640
- Belfast 293 1,300
- Residual small developments 664
TOTAL 10,390
Chair of the Council’s Regulatory and Planning Committee, Councillor Sue Wells says, "The Council is very aware of the need to work swiftly alongside developers to bring forward suitable land for housing. There are also many additional smaller numbers of sections available throughout the city. We will continue to update this information as it becomes available.”
Currently, there are six large blocks of land that the Council is looking at re-zoning for housing. These are:
Greenfield Plan Changes (including Outline Development Plans) currently being processed by the Council:
- Sparks Road (pre lodgement) 1,810 (sections)
- Hendersons Basin (RFI) 1,383
- Highfield Park (to be notified) 2,100
- Upper Styx (pre lodgement) 1,962
- Langdons Road 190
TOTAL 7,445
The report shows there is also further landholdings around the city with a potential capacity of 4,600 sections which have not yet started through a plan change process. These are:
Capacity of potential plan change areas situated within Christchurch City
- Metropolitan Urban Limits
- South Halswell 780
- South West Halswell 1,744
- South east Halswell 1,033
- East Belfast 510
- Russley 98
- South of Masham 255
- Maltworks (current Business Zone) 180
TOTAL 4,600
The full report is online at http://www1.ccc.govt.nz/council/proceedings/2012/june/cnclcover28th/clause21.pdf
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 www.ccc.govt.nz/landavailability. The website also has information on the planning and subdivision process of making sections available in Christchurch.