Proposed Plan Change 26 – Residential Zone Intensification
In 2021, Central Government brought in new laws to build more houses, forcing changes to Waipā’s District Plan. These changes, known as Plan Change 26 (PC26), have the potential to increase housing density in the residential zones of Cambridge, Te Awamutu, and Kihikihi.
What is Plan Change 26?
The Amendment Act was passed into law by Central Government on December 20, 2021. No consultation with councils occurred in the drafting of the Bill. Only a submission process was provided to the select committee before this happened. The main objective of the Amendment Act is to increase and accelerate the urban housing supply in New Zealand.
The aim is to speed up implementation of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD). Additionally, it allows for more medium density homes through an Intensification Planning Instrument (IPI) and an Intensification Streamlined Planning Process (ISPP). The IPI Plan Change 26 is referred to as ‘Residential Zone Intensification’.
Read more: The Amendment Act
An amendment to the Resource Management Act 1991 requires councils to increase housing density in the residentially zoned areas of Cambridge, Kihikihi and Te Awamutu. It also needs to relax policies that usually protect the district’s urban character and amenities.
The Waipā District Plan needs significant changes to accommodate the legislation, as do other Councils specified in the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (the Amendment Act) as Tier 1 growth councils.
The legislation mandates that Councils allow landowners on most sites to extend existing buildings or build up to three houses with up to three stories without land use consent, subject to a maximum site coverage, heights and setbacks. The changes also introduce no minimum lot sizes for associated subdivisions.
What we’re doing?
An internal report on the Amendment Act identified three possibilities for the Council to implement the compulsory legislative changes. At a Council meeting on April 5, 2022, all councillors unanimously voted against ‘uncontrolled urban intensification’ and voted for option three.
Option three provided the potential for the Council to maintain some control over where mandatory intensification occurs within residential zones.
Summary of option three:
- Attempts to leverage ‘qualifying matters’ to make parts of Cambridge, Kihikihi and Te Awamutu residential zones subject to modified Medium Density Residential Standards provisions.
- Reviews financial contributions for developers to pay for any resulting infrastructure upgrades.
- Identifies the impact of increased residential intensification on our existing infrastructure, the Waikato and Waipā Rivers, and their catchments.
- Inserts the mandatory Medium Density Residential Standards into the district plan.
Council has developed Proposed Plan Change 26 to implement the mandatory changes required. Proposed Plan Change 26 proposes to:
- Enable the construction of up to three three-story residential units in residential zones in Te Awamutu, Kihikihi and Cambridge without the needing resource consent if all the standards are met, and there are no qualifying matters.
- Modify the Medium Density Residential Standards where qualifying matters, such as cultural and heritage sites, Te Ture Whaimana o Te Awa o Waikato, have been identified.
- Update the character cluster overlays to include new properties in Cambridge, Kihikihi and Te Awamutu.
- Revise the financial contribution provisions in the district plan.
- Include consequential amendments.
Key steps and dates
Decisions on the Independent Hearing Panel (IHP) recommendations report for PC26 were made by Council on August 19, 2024. The decision is to accept all but four of the recommendations.
The rejected recommendations relate to:
- Extent of Infrastructure Constraint Overlay at Cambridge
- Site coverage exemptions in the Stormwater Constraint Overlay
- Relocated Buildings
- Financial Contributions
The rejected recommendations have been forwarded to the Minister for Resource Management Reform for decisions to be made. Until decisions are made, the provisions related to these recommendations have no legal weight.
The decision has been publicly notified and incorporated into the Waipā ePlan on August 30, 2024. The provisions of PC26 will be operative from this date.
You can view and download a copy of Council's decision here: Waipā District Council Plan Change 26 Decisions on Independent Hearing Panel Recommendations (PDF, 14MB)
You can view and download copies of Council's detailed public notice here:
- Supporting document for Public Notice of Council's decision, detailed version (PDF, 92 KB)
- Attachment A: Accepted IHP Recommendations (PDF, 233KB)
- Attachment B: Appendix 5 Independent Hearings Panel Report (PDF, 7.2 MB)
- Attachment C: Mapping Recommendations (PDF, 17MB)
- Attachment D: Rejected IHP Recommendations (PDF, 536 KB)
- Attachment E: Alterations with minor effects and to correct minor errors (PDF, 184 KB)
Plan Change timeline
| 9 August 2022 | Draft Plan Change presented to the committee for approval to notify. |
| 19 August 2022 | Proposed Plan Change 26 publicly notified, submissions open for 30 working days. |
| 19 August 2022 | Commissioner chair directions #1 issued [click here to view]– Hearing Procedures and Directions |
| 25 August 2022 | Commissioner chair direction #2 issued [click here to view] – Invalid and Late Submissions |
| 01 December 2022 | Commissioner chair direction #3 issued [click here to view] – Updated timetable for pre-circulation of evidence and legal submissions for the opening hearing |
| 09 December 2022 | Commissioner chair direction #4 issued [click here to view] – Timetable for the PC26 Session 2 report and evidence exchange |
| 20 December 2022 | Commissioner chair direction #5 issued [click here to view] – Scope of Hearing 1 |
| 28 November 2022 | Further submissions open 10 working days |
| 20 December 2022 | Councils’ report (prepared in accordance with s42A of the RMA) and expert evidence related to strategic matters to be available on the relevant Council’s website and submitted to the Hearing Coordinator. |
| 23 December 2022 | Commissioner chair direction #6 issued [click here to view] – Invalid, Late and Out of Scope Submissions. |
| 18 January 2023 | Commissioner chair direction #7 issued [click here to view] – Inclusionary Zoning/Affordable Housing Provisions |
| 1 February 2023 | Commissioner chair direction #8 issued [click here to view] – Process For Filing Submissions On Scope Matters |
| By 1 February 2023 | Submitter’s evidence (both expert and non-expert) related to strategic matters to be submitted to the Hearing Coordinator |
| 3 February 2023 | Commissioner chair direction #9 issued [click here to view] |
| By 8 February 2023 | Any rebuttal evidence to be provided to the Hearing coordinator |
| By 10 February 2023 | Opening legal submissions by all parties to be submitted to the Hearing coordinator (Councils may choose to submit joint submissions relating to matters that are common to all Councils). |
| 3 March 2023 | Commissioner chair direction #10 issued [click here to view] |
| 8 March 2023 | Commissioner chair direction #11 issued [click here to view] |
| 10 March 2023 | Commissioner chair direction #12 issued [click here to view] |
| 14 - 17 February 2023 | Hearing Stage One – Joint opening hearings -Strategic Matters
Venue: Hamilton City Council, Civic Reception, Lounge, Ground Floor, Garden Place, Hamilton |
| 17 March 2023 | s42A Report issued - view below |
| 24 March 2023 | Council's Expert Evidence Due - view below |
| 29 March 2023 | Commissioner chair direction #13 issued [click here to view] |
| 6 April 2023 | Submitters Evidence Due 4pm (Expert and non expert) |
| 11 April 2023 | Commissioner Chair Direction #14 issued [click here to view] |
| 19 April 2023 | Rebuttal Evidence due 4pm |
| 21 April 2023 | Opening Legal Submissions due 4pm |
| 26 - 28 April and 2 May 2023 | Hearing Stage Two – Substantive Matters
Venue: Bridges Church, 28 Duke Street, Cambridge |
| 30 May 2023 | Commissioner Chair Direction #15 issued [click here to view] |
| 14 June 2023 | Commissioner Chair Direction #16 issued [click here to view] |
| 11 July 2023 | Commissioner Chair Direction #17 issued [click here to view] |
| 8 July 2023 | s42A Report due 5pm |
| 24 July 2023 | Commissioner Chair Direction #18 issued [click here to view] |
| 4 August 2023 | Council Evidence due 5pm |
| 15 August 2023 | Notice of Hearing - Financial Contributions [click here to view] |
| 18 August 2023 | Submitter Evidence due 5pm |
| 1 September 2023 | Council and Submitter Rebuttal Evidence due 5pm |
| 15 September 2023 | Legal Submissions on Financial Contributions due 5pm. |
| 20, 21 and 22 September 2023 | Hearing Stage Three - Financial Contributions
Venue: Bridges Church, 28 Duke Street, Cambridge |
| 18 October 2023 | Council Closing Legal Submissions received |
| 15 March 2024 | IHP recommendation received Council has written to the Minister to have the timeframe for making a decision on Plan Change 26 (PC26) extended. We have now heard back from the Minister that decisions on PC26 are required to be notified on 30 August 2024. |
| 20 March 2024 | Request for extension of timeframe for making decisions on PC26 sent to Minister. |
| Minister direction received. PC26 decisions to be made and publicly notified on or before 30 August 2024. | |
| 19 August 2024 | Council decisions on PC26 made. |
| 30 August 2024 | Council decisions on PC26 publicly notified. Accepted IHP
recommendations incorporated into the ePlan and become operative.
Rejected IHP recommendations referred to Minister for Resource Management Reform. |
Frequently asked questions
We’ve developed some frequently asked questions for this plan change.
Plan Change documentation
Proposed Plan Change and Section 32 Report
Appendix 1 - Feedback received from Stakeholders
Appendix 2 - Assessment of Existing Qualifying Matters
Appendix 3 - Assessment of New Qualifying Matters
Appendix 4 - Character Area Review for Waipa District Council
Appendix 5 - Residential Modelling Medium Density Residential Standards
Appendix 6 - Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Assessment
Appendix 7 - Open Space Green Infrastructure Network
Appendix 8 - Summary Synthesis Report Infrastructure Report
Appendix 9 - Stormwater Infrastructure Assessment
Proposed Planning Map 56 - Qualifying Matters Cambridge
Proposed Planning Map 57 - Qualifying Matter Te Awamutu-Kihikihi
Recent decision
- Waipā District Council Plan Change 26 Decisions on Independent Hearing Panel Recommendations (PDF, 14MB)
- Supporting document for Public Notice of Council's decision, detailed version (PDF, 92 KB)
- Attachment A: Accepted IHP Recommendations (PDF, 233KB)
- Attachment B: Appendix 5 Independent Hearings Panel Report (PDF, 7.2 MB)
- Attachment C: Mapping Recommendations (PDF, 17MB)
- Attachment D: Rejected IHP Recommendations (PDF, 536 KB)
- Attachment E: Alterations with minor effects and to correct minor errors (PDF, 184 KB)
