Christchurch City Council has approved an extra $5.6 million to carry out a review of the city's planning rules due to a budget blow-out.
The proposed replacement district plan will dictate where housing and other development can take place and is being fast-tracked by the Government due to the earthquakes and the demands of the rebuild.
But the process, including consultation and an Independent Hearings Panel, is now $3.6 million over budget and is predicted to cost an extra $2 million before it wraps up in March next year.
The budget blow-out is mainly due to the cost of holding hearings and fitting out the venue where they are being held and takes the predicted total cost of the process to $33.2 million.