Welcome to the website of the Independent Hearings Panel for Plan Change 14

About this website

This is the website of the Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) appointed by the Christchurch City Council (the Council) to consider and conduct the hearing of submissions on the proposed Housing and Business Choice Plan Change (PC14) notified by the Council on 17 March 2023.

The IHP submitted its Recommendations Report to the Council on 29 July 2024.

The IHP issued its final Minute on 20 November 2024 and the Secretariat office closed on 30 November 2024. 

Information about Council consideration of the Recommendations Report and decision making is available at Proposed Housing and Business Choice Plan Change (PC14).

Information about PC14, including submissions and further submissions, are available on Council's website. Information relating to the IHP, evidence, hearings and the Recommendations Report are available on this website.

Hearings on PC 14 commenced in October 2023 and concluded on 24 April 2024. Hearing proceedings, recordings, filed and tabled documents and submitter responses to IHP requests are available on the Hearings page of this website. 

The Council Reply was filed on 17 May 2024, attachments are available on the Hearings page. 

The IHP issued Hearing Procedures in August 2023 and a Hearing Topics and Subtopics Schedule (updated February 2024) for the hearings. The schedule was amended to reflect that some topics initially scheduled for 2024 were heard in earlier weeks of the hearings. Hearings schedules, hearing proceedings and tabled documents are available on the Hearings page on this website.

The IHP held a Pre-hearing Meeting for Council, submitters and further submitters on 1 August 2023 to consider procedural matters relating to PC 14 hearings. 

The Council section 42 reports, Council evidence in chief and submitter expert evidence is published on the Evidence page. 

Recommendations Report 

The Panel has prepared a single Report, divided into eight parts. You can read the report here.  

The IHP issued the following Minutes in response to requests for clarifications and redrafting:

• Minute 51 - Response to Second Council request for Clarifications on 15 August 2024 with addendums to Parts 3, 4 and 5 of the Report.
• Minute 54 - Response to Council regarding City Centre zone clarifications raised by submitter on 11 September 2024 with addendum 2 to Part 3 of the Report.
• Minute 55 - Response to Council Regarding Final Clarifications Sought on 7 October 2024 with addendum 2 to Part 5 of the Report.
• Minute 57 - Response to Further Final Clarifications on 8 November 2024 with addendum 3 to Part 3 and an addendum to Part 7 of the Report.
• Minute 58 - Response to Chapter 14 Redraft and Miscellaneous matters on 20 November 2024 with updated provisions for Chapter 14.