Development of the Draft Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan : Greater Christchurch

The final Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan sets a desired urban form to ensure Greater Christchurch is future-proofed in the context of population growth and climate change.

Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan

View our Final Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.

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Over the past 15 years, Christchurch and surrounding towns have grown rapidly. By 2050, more than 700,000 people are projected to be living in the Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts – 30% more than there are today, with the population potentially doubling to 1 million people within the next 60 years, if not earlier.

Collective effort is required to increase resilience to natural hazards and climate change, improve access to employment, education and housing, reduce carbon emissions, and create a sustainable and prosperous future.

In our recent Huihui Mai engagement we asked residents how they thought we should tackle important issues such as building greater resilience to a changing environment, meeting our emissions reduction targets, preserving and enhancing our cultural and natural environments, creating liveable and healthy urban areas, and supporting the delivery of housing to improve affordability.

Of the more than 7000 people who responded to our online survey:

86% agreed with the direction to focus growth around key urban and town centres and along public transport routes
56% of people are open to higher-density living, but it needs to be planned and designed to meet their different needs and provide quality of life for people.
68% identified improving the health of waterways as a top priority
53% of people agree with the proposed MRT route and 24% disagree. The agreement is much higher in suburbs along the MRT route (72%).

This engagement has informed the Draft Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan, which was open for public submissions from 19 June to 23 July 2023.

You can find out more about this engagement and what we heard. This engagement and our work to develop the evidence base has informed the development of the draft Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.

The consultation is now closed.

Draft Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan process

Huihui Mai Engagement

The Huihui Mai engagement took place between 23 February 2023 to 3 April 2023

We asked residents how they thought we should tackle important issues such as responding to climate change, preserving the environment, making our region more resilient to natural disasters, and making housing more affordable.

You can find out more about how we engaged and what we heard.

Draft Spatial Plan

The Draft Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan was developed

This Draft Spatial Plan [PDF, 39 MB] provides a blueprint for how population and business growth will be accommodated in Greater Christchurch into the future, through targeted intensification in centres and along public transport corridors.

The plan includes a clear pathway for how the sub-region will create prosperous and well-functioning urban environments and build greater resilience in the context of the changing environment.

It proposes six opportunities, which link to a set of clear directions and the key moves to help shape the future of Greater Christchurch.

Public consultation

The Draft Spatial Plan was open for public submissions between 19 June to 23 July 2023

We received a total 358 submissions. View the volume of submissions received on the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.

Hearings and deliberations

Submitters speak to the panel

View information and details on the hearing panel, submitter information and procedures [PDF, 160 KB].

Officers from Greater Christchurch partners have considered the submissions received and provided responses and recommended changes to the draft Spatial Plan in relation to issues raised by submitters. These are provided in an Officers’ Report.

The Officers’ Report is provided to the Hearings Panel to support their consideration of submissions and to make their recommendations to the Whakawhanake Kāinga Komiti.

The Hearings Panel provides their own recommendation report to the Whakawhanake Kāinga Komiti after considering all submissions and hearing from those who speak at the hearings.

Hearing Panel report

After the hearings and deliberations, the panel make their recommendations

The Hearing Panel members reflected on the submissions and the information presented to them and formed their recommendations into a Hearings Panel Report. The Hearings Panel’s report was provided to the Greater Christchurch Partnership Committee on 16 February 2024.

The Greater Christchurch Partnership Committee unanimously endorsed the Panel's recommendations.

Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan Hearing Panel Report January 2024 and Appendices [PDF, 8.6 MB]

Spatial Plan adopted

GCP Partner Councils adopted of the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan

During March 2024 all Partner Councils adopted the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan as their Future Development Strategy.

The next stage is for the partners to get underway with implementation of the joint work programme and to put mechanisms in place to monitor progress in achieving the opportunities, directions and key moves set out in the Spatial Plan.

The purpose of the spatial plan

In 2022, the Greater Christchurch Partnership and the Crown established an Urban Growth Partnership for Greater Christchurch – the Whakawhanake Kāinga Komiti.

The partnership is focused on shared objectives related to affordable housing, emissions reduction, and creating liveable and resilient urban areas. The first priority of the partnership is to develop the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.

The purpose of the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan is to:

Set a desired urban form for a projected population of 700,000 (to 2051) and beyond that to 1 million people to ensure Greater Christchurch is future-proofed in the context of population growth and climate change.
Deliver the top priority of the Urban Growth Partnership for Greater Christchurch to develop a Spatial Plan that coordinates and aligns the aspirations of central government, local government and mana whenua.
Satisfy the requirements of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development for the Greater Christchurch Councils to jointly prepare a Future Development Strategy.

The draft plan in a nutshell

This draft Spatial Plan provides a blueprint for how population and business growth will be accommodated in Greater Christchurch into the future, through targeted intensification in centres and along public transport corridors.

The plan includes a clear pathway for how the sub-region will create prosperous and well-functioning urban environments and build greater resilience in the context of the changing environment. It proposes six opportunities, which link to a set of clear directions and the key moves to help shape the future of Greater Christchurch.

The spatial strategy is shown in the map [PDF, 2.6 MB] [PDF, ] and table [PDF, 87 KB].

Draft Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan maps:

Watch the webinar

We held a webinar to talk about the plan and to answer any questions you had on Tuesday 27 June.

Background documents

We have already done a lot of work to prepare the evidence base, develop our strategic framework to underpin and guide the work, analyse different scenarios, and engage with the community.

The outputs of this work are summarised in the documents below.

Foundation report [PDF, 5.8 MB]

The Foundation Report summarises the identification of urban opportunities and challenges, and the development of the strategic framework to guide the spatial plan. The Foundation Report sets out:

The context and approach to the development of the spatial plan.
An assessment of the current state across a range of spatial and wellbeing aspects including the natural environment, people and communities, homes and places, economy and jobs, and access and mobility.
An articulation of the opportunities for Greater Christchurch’s urban area which describe why change is required and what needs to be done to achieve it.

Ngā Kaupapa report [PDF, 1.5 MB]

The Ngā Kaupapa Report was prepared by Mahaanui Kurataiao on behalf of mana whenua and identifies and describes:

The cultural values within the boundary of Greater Christchurch;
Relevant cultural principles; and
An assessment of relevant Iwi Management Plan policies and other strategy documents to inform and guide the development of the spatial plan.

The Ngā Kaupapa Report was prepared to be part of/to inform the Foundation Report. The report’s main purpose is to ensure that the spatial planning team and partners understand the legal framework underpinning the Treaty partnership and some core mana whenua principles and values for the Greater Christchurch area. It is not a representation of mana whenua priorities and expectations.

Greater Christchurch housing development capacity assessment [PDF, 2.1 MB]

The Greater Christchurch Housing Development Capacity Assessment is an assessment of Greater Christchurch’s capacity to meet the projected demand for housing over the next 30 years.

Further supporting information:

Greater Christchurch housing development capacity assessment March 2023 [PDF, 3.4 MB]

The Greater Christchurch Housing Development Capacity Assessment is an assessment of Greater Christchurch’s capacity to meet the projected demand for housing over the next 30 years.

Greater Christchurch business development capacity assessment April 2023 [PDF, 2.8 MB]

The Greater Christchurch Business Development Capacity Assessment is an assessment of Greater Christchurch’s capacity to meet the projected demand for business over the next 30 years.

Further supporting information:

Appendix 5 - Suitability assessments [PDF, ]

Urban form scenarios evaluation report [PDF, 4 MB]

This report summarises the work undertaken to evaluate Urban Form Scenarios.

The purpose of this was to understand how different land-use scenarios and transport packages contributed to the realisation of the outcomes and priorities as set out in the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan Strategic Framework, to inform the development of urban form direction and development of the draft Plan.

Urban form direction to inform engagement with stakeholders and the development of the draft spatial plan [PDF, 4.7 MB]

This document includes:

the preliminary conclusions from the evaluation of urban form scenarios;
the work to investigate a preferred route for Mass Rapid Transit along Riccarton Road and Papanui Road corridors (Mass Rapid Transit Indicate Business Case (IBC) Stage 1); and
urban form directions to inform engagement with stakeholders and the development of the draft spatial plan.

Areas to protect and avoid report [PDF, 4.6 MB]

The purpose of this report is to detail the methodology and reasoning for identifying land development constraints, and areas to protect, to inform the development of the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.

Huihui Mai engagement pack [PDF, 6.1 MB]

This engagement pack includes the information provided to the public during the Huihui Mai engagement on which feedback was sought through an online survey, workshops and drop-ins.

These engagement reports provide a summary of what we heard from the community and youth through the Huihui Mai Engagement which has informed the development of the draft Spatial Plan.