Prebbleton is about to increase by another 820 sections after a successful plan change, and would almost double in size if two other plan changes are approved.
Several residents live on one of the latest chunks of rural land that could go into housing – some support development while others are avidly opposed.
The Plan Change 79 rezoning application for 527 sections on 37ha on Birchs Rd recently received 36 submissions.
It comes as the Lincoln Voice residents’ group continues to fight Plan Change 69 in the Environment Court. PC69 would see 1710 sections on 190ha of rural land.
Neighbours John and Sue Sheaf and Tom and Helen Fraser believe PC79 will not be successful after the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land came into effect last Monday.
The PC79 area comprises mostly class 1 and 2 soils, which have been given enhanced protection in the new legislation.
Nevetheless they fear it will be approved and they will be surrounded by fences and dense housing, up to three stories high, in spite of the PC79 area being half a kilometre outside the Prebbleton town boundary.
“That’s a matter of principle that we are prepared to put our bank balance against,” he said.
Not only did they not want to move, they did not want to see the valuable soils “going underneath houses and asphalt”.
Sheaf said he and Sue had lived happily at their 0.6ha property for six years. They had rebuilt the interior of their home, cleared weeds, and planted the area with natives, an orchard and vegetable gardens, and had hens for free range eggs.
The Frasers said they had lived on their 4ha property since buying it in 1970 as a bare block.
They had built their home, planted it out, and to this day farmed prime lambs there.
“We are the longest-term residents within the proposed subdivision. We find it incomprehensible that someone can apply to subdivide our land without our consent,” Tom Fraser said.
“It’s morally wrong, we don’t want to shift, but it’s also morally wrong to take highly productive land and convert it to concrete.”
The Sheafs and Frasers were among the majority of submitters who opposed PC79. Reasons given by submitters also included pressure on infrastructure, increase in traffic, and oversupply of homes following the other two Prebbleton plan changes.
Among supporting submitters were the Sheafs’ and Frasers’ neighbours, who live in the PC79 area.
John and Bev Broadway, Anthony Sutton, and Jason Rademaker submitted separately, but outlined the same reasons, including that building houses would be a better and more efficient use of their land, the PC79 area would be a logical extension to the township and it would be well-placed to connect with the new Kakaha Park across the road.
The Broadways also said their lifestyle block was too small for a viable farming business. It was currently used for grazing “a few sheep and a couple of horses”.
Rademaker also said Kakaha Park would have hundreds of car parking spaces and lighting, which was more suited to the residential lifestyle the subdivision would bring.
The PC79 application was made by Birchs Village Ltd, of which Ryan Geddes is the sole director. He lives in Christchurch and is understood to own one of the eight blocks of land which make up the PC79 area.
Geddes did not return calls to the Selwyn Times.
Meanwhile, the two remaining plan changes pertaining to Prebbleton are Plan Change 68, for 820 sections on Trents Rd, and Plan Change 72, for 295 sections on the south side of Trices Rd and eastern side of Birchs Rd.
PC68 is soon to be operative after no appeals were received by the deadline date of October 14, while PC72 is being appealed in the Environment Court.
