Plan Change 26 – Residential Zone Intensification

In 2021, Central Government brought in new laws to build more houses, forcing changes to the Waipā District Plan. These changes, known as Plan Change 26 (PC26) and which came into effect in August 2024, will increase housing density in the residential zones of Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Kihikihi.

What was 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.

Final confirmation of Plan Change 26

The final shape of Plan Change 26 has been decided. The Minister responsible for Resource Management Reform, Chris Bishop, has released his decision on the four Independent Hearing Panel recommendations for Plan Change 26 that were rejected by Council.

Two of the rejections – a technical wording change regarding stormwater overlays, and the ability to allow up to three dwellings per site in the Medium Density Zone directly surrounding Cambridge town centre – have been agreed to by the Minister. As a result, there will be no areas of Waipā that permit as of right up to three dwellings or more per site.

However, the Minister did not accept Council’s rejection of provisions relating to relocated buildings and financial contributions.

The latter will add costs for people building in the new Medium Density Zone – a mandatory new charge of up to $3725 for each new dwelling. Council had rejected this, recognising the impact it would have on housing affordability.

The financial contributions are levied for the specific purpose of mitigating the effects of increased housing density on both residential amenity - how pleasant a neighbourhood is for people - and the Waikato River (under Te Ture Whaimana, the direction-setting document of the Waikato River Authority). The money must be spent on projects such as street planting and improving stormwater catchment or park and reserves. It cannot be spent on projects funded by Development Contributions, such as growth-related playgrounds or stormwater assets.

The levy will be imposed against every new house, and payment will be required at building consent stage if no land use resource consent is needed.

The second recommendation, rejected by the Council but confirmed by the Minister, regards relocated buildings.

Council’s publicly-notified proposal for Plan Change 26 included specific standards and restrictions for relocated buildings in the new Medium Density Zone – the same provisions that apply across the wider district in the Operative District Plan.

However, the hearing panel recommended relocated houses be a ‘permitted activity’ in the plan change, subject to compliance with density standards and the Building Act, but with no controls regarding their exterior maintenance.

The rejected components of Plan Change 26 including the new financial contribution provisions will become operative when the recommendations are formally notified, which is anticipated to be no earlier than February or March 2025.

Independent Hearing Panel recommendations

After a lengthy hearing process, the Independent Hearing Panel released its recommendations report for Plan Change 26. At its meeting on August 19, 2024, Council accepted 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 were 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

2025

Early 2025

Council publicly notifies the final provisions concerning the rejected components of Plan Change 26, which will them become operative.

2024

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.
12 June 2024	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.
16 October 2024	Minister responsible for Resource Management Reform releases decision on rejected recommendations, accepting two of them and not accepting the other two.

2023

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).
14 - 17 February 2023	Hearing Stage One – Joint opening hearings -Strategic Matters Venue: Hamilton City Council, Civic Reception, Lounge, Ground Floor, Garden Place, Hamilton
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]
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]
8 July 2023	s42A Report due 5pm
11 July 2023	Commissioner Chair Direction #17 issued [click here to view]
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

2022

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
28 November 2022	Further submissions open 10 working days
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
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.