Christchurch City Council have voted against implementing the national standards for housing density. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Central government will 'probably' intervene to implement housing density standards in Christchurch after its council voted to reject the ruling, mayor Lianne Dalziel says.
The Christchurch City Council is writing to the Environment Minister demanding to be left out of the government's rules for building more houses.
The council yesterday voted against implementing the national standards for housing density, which allow apartment blocks of up to 10 storeys in some central suburbs, and three homes up to three storeys tall on most residential sections, without planning permission.
Councillors, who were supposed to be submitting their own plans for how they would comply with the new law, are instead saying they want the government to reconsider how the law might best be applied in a heritage city such as Christchurch.
But the government could dig its heels in, too, putting it at loggerheads with the local leadership of the country's second-largest city, currently led by a respected former Labour cabinet minister.
"Local government doesn't get to pick and choose what central government requires it to do" - Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel told Morning Report supporters of the decision to reject the housing density standards had been warned of the potential for a government intervention.
"This is the reality of local government.
"Local government doesn't get to pick and choose what central government requires it to do.
"The law was changed last year. In fact Labour and National held hands, they talked to each other before local government was talked to about introducing medium density residential standards across all of the tier one cities that was written into the Resource Management Act and we're required by law to do it," Dalziel said.
Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Central government now had the option to require somebody else, such as a commissioner, to apply the new density standards, she said.
This was likely the decision the government would make, she said.
"That I think is the step they'll probably take, I'm certainly writing to the minister and asking them not to take that step but to work collaboratively with this city to try and resolve some of the outstanding issues."
One of the issues in question was the lack of requirement for developers to retain existing trees, plant new trees or make financial contributions to council efforts to maintain the city's tree canopies, Dalziel said.
The mayor reiterated she had voted to implement the housing density standards.
"As the mayor of the city I have to advance the decision that the council made ... the record shows that I voted for the notification and I did so because we are legally required to do so, local government is a creature of statute we can only do what we are allowed by law to do and we are required to do that which we are directed to by any statute."
Although housing intensification played an important part in avoiding urban sprawl which she said was "detrimental" to the city's environment.
Her support came with a few prerequisites.
"Row after row after row of houses that are all identical ... without the kind of landscaping and the tree canopy that has given us our garden city name I think it is very detrimental to the kinds of environments we want to be living in," she said.
Linwood ward councillor Yani Johanson said Christchurch already had the land and the rules it needed to allow plenty of development.
He said the national standards did nothing for affordability.