MEDIA RELEASE

24 June 2013

Christchurch’s plan change requires complete rethink

Christchurch City Council should put its ‘discouraging’ City Plan Change 56 on hold so it can start it again with input from the property industry.

In its submission to the Council lodged today, Property Council’s South Island Branch suggests taking a less regulated approach towards suburban regeneration and urban design – an option recommended to the Council during an independent review of the costs and benefits of any plan change.

Property Council’s submission proposes that Plan Change 56 should reduce the regulatory provisions, combining these rules with ideal design guidelines. South Island Branch president Glenn Taylor said the plan change, in its current form, will unnecessarily hinder the rebuild efforts.

“The approach suggested by Property Council offers the opportunity to develop clear, principle based guidelines, so that developers and others seeking to use the land, as well as council officials, have a sound understanding of what is required.”

The submission acknowledges the plan change seeks to facilitate higher standards of urban design, appearance and amenity through better design outcomes. The Council intends to address suburban recovery and regeneration through this plan change, while attempting to avoid low-quality developments.

“While Property Council and the branch’s members are firm supporters of urban design, we had a number of concerns regarding the complicated detail and the impact of this on future developments and the recovery of Christchurch. Design values change over time and this plan is meant to last us for the next 10 to 15 years.

“The highly prescriptive nature of the plan change together with the nature of the micro urban design level approach would discourage investment, stifle creativity in design. The plan change, as it currently is, would result in an impractical ‘one size fits all’ approach which ignores the requirements of different types of developments and businesses.”

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