Politicians had shown "ignorance of the realities of planning" and the steps necessary to ensure good behaviour by developers, Cr David Benson-Pope said.
Some areas were more suitable for development than others and sound planning achieved good results for communities, he said.
"It’s not in anyone’s interest — other than private capital — for people to be able to do what they want.
"It’s certainly not in the wider community interest.
"And that’s why we have these rules — to protect people’s rights and property and finances, actually."
Cr Benson-Pope’s comments come amid a government freeze on some council planning ahead of resource management reform.
Minister Responsible for Resource Management Act Reform Chris Bishop said at a Local Government New Zealand conference this week restrictive planning rules were holding back economic growth and exacerbating the housing crisis.
"Key projects across the country continue to get declined by your own planning departments.
"Housing continues to be difficult to build, because of restrictive planning rules in your plans," Mr Bishop told councils.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said he had seen resource consents for solar farms include requirements such as inviting mana whenua to perform karakia before removal of native trees and needing to submit detailed plans about landscaping, down to every plant’s botanical and common name and specifying planting techniques.
"You and your ratepayers want renewable energy, but the consenting process demands ceremonial chanting and spreadsheet-level detail about every shrub on site," he said.
Cr Benson-Pope said the ministers had demonstrated profound misunderstanding of the work.
Allowing development "willy-nilly" would leave other people to pick up the cost, he said.
"We’ve got a system that has been refined over decades to make sure that we have good information about problems with areas — like water risk, hazard risk of various kinds, earthquake risk — where we can consent fairly comfortably and where we can’t," he said.
"And so why wouldn’t we want to plan and encourage development in the sensible places?"
Cr Benson-Pope said landscaping often mitigated the negative effects of a building.
Being specific was about ensuring the right results were achieved, he said.
TGC Homes director George Hercus said building an entry-level townhouse in Dunedin cost about $100,000 more than in Christchurch and differences in regulation between the two cities was a key contributor to this.
"I support any move by the government to cut through that red tape ... and to refocus the council on addressing the housing shortage the city has, rather than the type of plants we are allowed to plant."
