The residents on Dunns Crossing Rd, between Burnham School Rd and Brookside Rd, say they will be “landlocked” on large sections as higher density sub-divisions are built around them.
But Selwyn District Council says the landowners can not be part of rezoning plan change applications submitted by others, and they would have to submit their own application.
“That’s just archaic; it is old prehistoric thinking,” resident Gary Smith said.
“Why are they land-locking perfectly good sub-dividable land in-between two high density subdivisions?” Smith said.
He was not ruling out applying for his own plan change in future, however, this would be likely to cost tens of thousands of dollars.
He believed the council should instead consider the common sense approach of rezoning the area as part of considering a recently-notified plan change application from Rolleston West Residential Ltd, a Carter Group company.
Submissions on this application to rezone two blocks on Dunns Crossing Rd, comprising more than 160ha and providing for up to 2100 households, close on May 3.
“It’s a bit of a no-brainer, the land in the middle is the same, do the lot,” Smith said.
This would only be fair to him and his fellow neighbouring land owners, and it would align with Government policy on increasing housing supply.
Smith lives on a 0.4ha block that would lend itself to being subdivided into two quarter-acre sections.
Fellow Dunns Crossing Rd resident Gordon Chamberlain agreed it did not make sense to have a low density area between two much higher density subdivisions.
“It will be like two little villages out on its own,” Chamberlain said.
His property would lend itself ideally to being subdivided into four quarter-acre blocks.
In the past, he had considered applying for a plan change to allow this, but the indication from the council had been that it would not be successful.
“We are not objecting to the (neighbouring) land being subdivided, we just want to be included,” Chamberlain said.
Another Dunns Crossing Rd resident, Michael Wright, agreed that his and his neighbours’ land between the two blocks should be part of any rezoning.
His land was about 0.4ha, which would lend itself to subdividing in the future.
“That whole strip should be the same,” Wright said.
Council strategy and policy team leader Robert Love said the council was able to consider the plan change application from Rolleston West Residential following the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) 2020 coming into effect in August.
This legislation gave more scope for people to apply for plan changes that conflicted with Environment Canterbury’s Canterbury Regional Policy Statement, which covered what areas could be considered for rezoning.
“Legally, the council cannot add further land for rezoning to an existing plan change application, and any submission to do that would not meet the legal requirements either,” Love said.
The council could, however, consider a separate plan change application from the Dunns Crossing Rd residents, if it met the requirements of the NPS-UD and Resource Management Act.
