Minister declines request for extension to medium-density plan change

A request for Waipā District Council to extend the time it has to introduce medium-density residential housing rules to February next year has been declined by the Government.

Instead, Plan Change 26 decisions will need to be notified by the end of August, paving the way for two houses, up to three storeys high, to be built in Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Kihikihi, without a resource consent or notifying neighbours.

The council wrote to Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds and Housing Minister Chris Bishop in March, formally requesting an extension to consider its planning response until February 2025. It was one of several tier one growth councils, mandated to make the change, to request an extension.

At the time, Mayor Susan O’Regan said the requirement for the plan change was a “blunt, heavy-handed instrument” that had caused “huge angst for our community”. The time extension request seemed appropriate as the Government had indicated it was looking to make these mandatory requirements optional.

In his letter to the council declining its request, Mr Bishop said until the Government made decisions on the ‘Going for Housing Growth’ policy, the current legislation stood and must be complied with.

A short extension would allow the council to consider the recommendations of the independent hearings panel before making a decision. The recommendations by the panel were made following the hearing of more than 100 submissions when the plan change was first notified in August 2022.

O’Regan said the council was now in the position where it had no option but to follow the directive given by the minister.

“We still maintain that Waipā should not have been lumped in with cities like Auckland and Wellington to start with,” she said.

“We are not against dwelling intensification if it is done well in the right location, but being forced to go down this track has the potential to see houses built that could adversely impact how other people use and enjoy their properties. We also need to take into account the required infrastructure to support those houses at a cost of in excess of $600 million. We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

The council would consider the recommendations from the PC26 independent hearings panel at a public workshop in early August before making its final decisions.