6 Mar 2024

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An overarching plan for managing future population and business growth in Greater Christchurch is now one step closer to final approval.

At its meeting today Christchurch City Council adopted the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan (GCSP), capping off its role to date in an extensive multi-agency planning process that started in early 2022.

Joint Housing Action Plan adopted 

 

The Council today also approved the Greater Christchurch Partnership's Joint Housing Action Plan which aims to address housing availability and affordability in the greater area. 

 

In December, the partnership committee endorsed the Housing Action Plan and recommended partner councils adopt it and implement phase one. 

 

Phase one has eight actions that could be started immediately within the Council’s existing resources, including identifying publicly owned sites appropriate for affordable housing across all three council districts, and testing incentives to encourage affordable development. 

 

Waimakariri and Selwyn district councils are expected to consider the GCSP and the Joint Housing Action Pan for approval this month.

 Mayor Phil Mauger says the decision represents a big endorsement of the Greater Christchurch Partnership’s work to look beyond boundaries and find shared ways forward for housing, business, infrastructure and land use. 

“This plan provides a blueprint that will allow Christchurch, along with the Waimakariri and Selwyn districts, to keep up with growth in the area while remaining an attractive place to live, learn, work, visit and invest,” says Mayor Mauger. 

“Today’s decision endorses a huge amount of work on behalf of local government, mana whenua and government agencies working collaboratively to address challenges and opportunities for the Greater Christchurch area. 

“It also represents feedback from thousands of residents who have sent us clear signals about the type of future they want to see for their communities, their businesses and the environments they enjoy. 

“On behalf of Christchurch City Council, I want to say a huge thank-you to everyone in the partnership and in our communities who has put in the hard yards over many months to bring the GCSP before us today.” 

The Greater Christchurch area, which comprises the Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selwyn districts, is expected to grow by about 700,000 people over the next 30 years. 

The GCSP aims to create prosperous, sustainable, well-functioning and resilient urban environments, showing how new homes and businesses can be accommodated in a way that enhances the environment, integrates with transport and other infrastructure, builds greater community resilience against risks to natural hazards, and contributes to a sustainable future for existing communities and future generations. 

Six priority development areas have been identified in the plan – Rangiora Town Centre and surrounds, Rolleston Town Centre and surrounds, Papanui, the Central City, Riccarton, and Hornby – as well as a dedicated route for a turn-up-and-go mass rapid transit system, which will connect the central city to Belfast in the north and Hornby in the southwest. 

The plan also identifies development of kāinga nohoanga (communal settlements) within traditional reserve sites and urban areas as a development priority. 

More than 7,000 people engaged in the early development of the GCSP through the Huihui Mai survey last year, with a further 358 people submitting on the draft plan. 

Learn more about the Greater Christchurch Partnership.