Tuesday 20 May 2014

Council Committee proposes Development Forum

The Council's Strategy and Planning Committee today recommended the Council set up a Development Forum to enable better dialogue between the city's development community and the Council.

Committee Chair Councillor Jamie Gough says, "It's a good opportunity for the Council to work with the development community to facilitate the rebuild of the city, and clarify any concerns they have.

"I'd like the Forum to be a place where we can share information and clear up any confusion about issues that affect developers. We're going for a joined-up approach to work together from the outset, along the lines of the Santa Cruz model."

The Committee proposes the Forum comprise five members from the Council and five from the development community, namely the Canterbury Development Corporation, Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce,
Property Council of New Zealand, the Real Estate Agent's Authority and the Christchurch Central City Business Association.

The proposal would see the Forum meeting three or four times a year and discussing topics such as planned developments, the content, timing and progress of the Council's capital works programme, rebuild initiatives,
policy improvements and changes to legislation.

The Committee asked for the Forum's draft terms of reference to focus initially on the development contribution policy, which Cr Gough says needs to be clarified for developers so they understand how it is made up
and so Councillors can hear and discuss first hand industry ideas on how best to make the policy more affective and efficient for them.

The Council will consider the proposal at its meeting on 12 June.

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