The Settlement Pattern and Community Engagement consultation process

The Partnership has recently commenced a review of the long-term settlement planning approach outlined in the UDS and included within key resource management documents such as the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement and district plans. This Settlement Pattern Review will meet the requirements of the new National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity.

National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity (NPS-UDC)

The NPS-UDC directs local authorities to provide sufficient development capacity for housing and business growth to meet demand in the short (3 years), medium (10 years) and long term (30 years). The requirements of NPS-UDC policies variously relate to both territorial authorities and regional councils.

The NPS-UDC adopts a tiered structure that establishes additional requirements for local authorities with high-growth and medium-growth urban areas within their district or region.

The Christchurch urban area, as identified by Statistics New Zealand includes the towns of Prebbleton (Selwyn district) and Kaiapoi (Waimakariri district). The NPS-UDC specifies that the application of policies to ensure development capacity is not restricted to the boundaries of the identified urban area. The NPS-UDC also states that local authorities that share jurisdiction over an urban area are strongly encouraged to work together to implement the NPS-UDC.

Key deliverables and timeframes required by the NPS-UDC are:

  • quarterly monitoring of a range of market indicators (commencing June 2017)
  • a housing and business development capacity assessment (by December 2017)
  • setting minimum targets for housing in regional policy statement and district plans (December 2018)
  • prepare a future development strategy to demonstrate sufficient, feasible development capacity in the medium and long term (by December 2018).

Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy and Settlement Pattern Review

The Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy Update was endorsed by the Partnership Committee in July 2016.  The document updates the 2007 Strategy to respond to the significant events and changes that have occurred since its release. It does not replace the 2007 Strategy, but rather complements it.

The Strategy Update did not attempt to revise the land use framework set out in the Land Use Recovery Plan (LURP) and included in Chapter 6 of the Regional Policy Statement.

At the 3 March 2017 meeting of the Committee it was resolved that the first phase of a strategy review therefore has a focus on settlement pattern matters and that this integrates work necessary to meet the requirements of the NPS-UDC.

The Committee also resolved that the settlement pattern review is undertaken through a collaborative partnership arrangement.

At the subsequent meeting of the Committee on 7 April 2017 the initial project scope and key assumptions for the Settlement Pattern Review were agreed.

Urban Development Indicators quarterly monitoring reports

The NPS-UDC requires local authorities to begin monitoring a range of market indicators on a quarterly basis from June 2017. It encourages local authorities to publish the results of this monitoring.

The indicators specified in the NPS-UDS (Policy PB6) are:

  • prices and rents for housing, residential land and business land by location and type; and changes in these prices and rents over time;
  • the number of resource consents and building consents granted for urban development relative to the growth in population; and
  • indicators of housing affordability.

To assist councils in meeting this requirement the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) have sourced and made available certain data via a new Development Capacity Dashboard.

The Urban Development Indicators quarterly monitoring reports use data from this Dashboard and supplements this with other data from Statistics New Zealand and other sources, particularly in relation to business indicators.

These reports includes clarifying notes and also observations to help provide an overall picture of what the indicators might mean in the local context.

Quarterly Monitoring Reports - 2017