Resource Consents Update – October 2025

In this update:

• RMA changes
• District Plan updates 
• MRZ/HRZ rule guidance
• Multi-unit housing design guidance 
• Glazing of front doors

RMA changes

The Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act 2025 passed into law in August. Some of the consenting changes came into force then, and others took effect this week.

Changes in effect since 21 August:

Compliance history: Councils can take into account an applicant’s compliance history when making decisions on applications, and decline an application if there is a record of significant non-compliance (s104). Application forms must be updated to include a declaration regarding this (ours will be updated soon). 

Natural hazards: A land use consent application can be declined, or granted subject to conditions, if the Council considers there is a significant risk from natural hazards. The risk assessment must take into account the likelihood of the hazard occurring, whether the proposed activity would accelerate, worsen or result in material damage to land or structures on the site or elsewhere, and adverse effects on health or safety of people (s106A). Proposals for infrastructure and primary production are exempt.

This is similar to the existing s106 for subdivisions, but with the addition of effects on health and safety. As yet, there's little guidance available on how this new provision is to be applied in practice, but we'll share more information when it’s available.  

Changes that took effect on 20 October:

Information requirements: Information provided with an application must be proportionate in detail to the effects the activity may have on the environment (s88).
Any further information requested must be needed for the Council to make a decision on the application, and must be proportionate to the effects the activity may have on the environment.

Failure to respond: If an applicant doesn’t respond to a request (e.g. for information or payment), the Council can return an application as incomplete once 3 months have passed since the response was due (s92AA). Older applications submitted before the Amendment Act can be returned if 12 months have passed. 

Draft conditions: An applicant can ask to review draft conditions before a decision is made, and the application may be placed on hold while this is done (s107G). This formalises what is already current practice for many resource consent applications. Our application forms will be updated soon, enabling applicants to request this at the outset. 

Specified energy and wood processing activities: These must be processed within one year, with provision to extend this by a further year (s88BA).

This is just a summary of the main changes affecting Christchurch City Council's consent processes. More information about the Amendment Act, including fact sheets on these topics and others, is available on the Ministry for the Environment's website.

District Plan updates

The ePlan has now largely been updated to incorporate the Plan Change 14 decisions made to date. References to the Chapter 14B Pathway will be added to the remaining district-wide chapters soon. 

Previous references to ‘Policy 3 area’ on the maps and within the rules have been replaced with ‘Urban Intensification Area’, which is the original Policy 3 area plus the additional properties rezoned on 3 September. These areas are shown on the 'All Layers' tab in Property Search. 

Plan Change 13 updates will be made once the Council has issued a public notice making the final provisions operative. This will be done when the appeal period has ended and any appeals have been resolved. In the meantime, the pre-PC13 heritage provisions continue to apply alongside the decision version from the 17 September 2025 Council meeting (which replaces the notified PC13 provisions). 

MRZ and HRZ rule guidance

We’ve prepared guidance on some of the rules for the new Medium and High Density Residential zones – you can find it on our Planning zones and rules webpage.

This guidance is used by our planning teams, and we also want to share it externally so everyone is aware of how the rules are generally being applied in practice. Please note that it doesn't form part of the District Plan and is intended to assist with interpretation only. 

It focuses on rules that aren’t entirely clear or that prompt common questions to us (mainly the built form standards), so not all rules are included. Please also note that the information may not be relevant to all situations, so each proposal will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The guidance is likely to be updated from time to time to include new or amended information. You’ll find the date of the latest update at the bottom of each page. 

New multi-unit housing design guidance – First release

Now that the Medium and High Density Residential Zone provisions introduced through Plan Change 14 are finalised, the first sections of new technical design guidance for multi-unit housing developments have been released.  

They provide good design practices and practical solutions to common challenges for multi-unit housing in Ōtautahi, to help achieve high-quality outcomes and good places to live. 

The guidance is aligned with the District Plan, particularly the Residential Design Principles, to support the resource consent process, including conversations between applicants and the Council, which will help to make the process smoother and more consistent, reducing delays and expense. 

This first release includes the introduction chapter, advice on sites, context and housing types, and the first five sections of Chapter 1: ‘Arranging the site’.

In addition to Chapter 1, future sections will include Chapter 2: ‘Street to front door’ and Chapter 3: ‘The building(s)’. Please see the contents list within the document for more information. Future updates to the guidance will be notified through this newsletter. 

Download the guidance as a complete document, or as individual sections, on our website.

Glazing of front doors

As part of Plan Change 14, a minimum 20% glazing requirement was introduced for facades facing the street.

But, did you know that the Christchurch District Plan allows:

• The glazing requirement to be reduced from 20% to 15% if there's a separate ground-floor window facing the street from a habitable room.  
• Solid front doors, up to a maximum of 2m² in area, to be included in the glazing requirement calculation.

Both of the above allow for more design flexibility. There are no rules against fully glazed front doors; however, solid doors also count towards glazed-area compliance with the District Plan.

Examples of complying front facades in Medium and High Density Residential zones.