Proposed Plan Change I – Increasing Housing Supply and Choice

We're wanting more feedback from you about where we’re proposing that medium density housing will be encouraged in the city.

Back in 2022, we asked for feedback on some proposed areas we thought medium density housing could be. Since then, we’ve reviewed your suggestions and done a lot more technical work to refine our proposal. Now we’re wanting more feedback from you on our proposal, which we’re calling Plan Change I: Increasing Housing Supply and Choice. The proposed plan change aims to cut red tape and make housing more accessible by enabling more new homes close to the amenities and infrastructure we already have.

You can let us know what you think of the proposed plan change by filling out the form below or making a written submission. Please indicate as part of your submission whether you’d like to speak to the Hearings Panel in person at the plan change hearing.

Make a submission today

Housing in the proposed new zone could be taller, up to 11 metres (typically 3 storeys), and closer together. Section sizes could also be smaller. The types of housing within the Medium Density Residential Zone could include duplexes, multi-units, town houses and apartments. This would widen the range of housing options available from what we have today. See the photo gallery at the bottom of this page for examples.

Enabling more housing within the urban area we’re already using could reduce our climate emissions by making it easier for people to walk, bus, scooter or bike to get around the city, instead of relying on cars. It would also reduce the amount we’d need to build outward into our rural environment.

Though neighbourhoods will change over the coming decades, it’s unlikely this would happen quickly. Medium density housing is already allowed in many areas within 800 metres of the city centre and around some neighbourhood shopping centres. What we’ve seen in these areas is a gradual change, with some developers building more densely on each site and others sticking with traditional homes.

We need a plan because we’re growing fast

Palmy will likely become a metropolitan city by 2030, meaning we’ll be a city of more than 100,000 people.

In 2020, the government placed requirements on Council to set housing targets and make sure our city’s infrastructure and services will be able to meet future demand. To do this, Palmy needs 5,000 new homes over the next 10 years, and 13,000 new homes over the next 30 years.

Government standards have different rules for cities depending on their size. You can read more about this in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development.

Bigger cities like Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are Tier 1, which means almost all their residential areas will be rezoned for higher density housing unless they’re categorised as unsuitable. For example, heritage areas.

Palmy is a Tier 2 city like Dunedin and Nelson, which means the rules for us are not quite as strict. This gives us a few more options to come up with a plan that suits Palmy’s identity, capacity and needs.

We’ve made some changes based on your feedback and technical advice on stormwater

We’ve asked for your feedback on this topic twice in the past, resulting in 684 of you providing feedback through our website, and even more of you chatting to us at our drop-in sessions and commenting on our social media. This has been used to help shape the final draft of our proposal. Key feedback themes included:

• Six units per site is too many
• Support for careful stormwater management
• The need to maintain residential amenity and character

The main change we’ve made in response to public feedback is to reduce the number of buildings proposed to be allowed on each site, from six to three. This would still allow more homes to be built on sections within the zone, while reducing the possible impacts on neighbours.

We’ve also had more technical advice from stormwater specialists. That advice says there are areas in the city where we’ll need to consider impacts on a case-by-case basis. This is to ensure we can manage the city’s stormwater appropriately and that new developments don’t pose any risk to the existing properties.

While these areas will still be part of the new zone, a resource consent will be required. All resource consent applications within the Stormwater Overlay must include a stormwater impact report for the property. This requirement covers around 75% of the proposed new zone. You can check this by viewing the Stormwater Overlay feature on our interactive map, which shows the areas that would have added stormwater requirements.

Where we propose the zone will be

We think our Medium Density Residential Zone should be located where there is good access to things people need, like public transport, shops, schools and green space. Areas within 800 metres of our city centre are already enabled for medium density housing.

The outline of our proposed Medium Density Residential Zone can be seen in yellow on our interactive zone map. The Stormwater Overlay is in blue.

Tip: Zoom in or use the search bar to see if your property is included in the proposed zone for medium density housing.

These areas have been identified for inclusion in the new zone based on their walkable distance to:

• bus stops (within 500m)
• parks or reserves (within 400m)
• schools (within 800m)
• a shopping centre (within 800m)

We’re proposing that some development could occur without resource consent

To better enable more new housing, we’re proposing that a resource consent would not be needed for some new homes in the medium density residential zone, as long as they meet the standards, we’ve set out in the proposed plan change. This means these homes could be built without the neighbour’s consent. All new homes would still require building consent.

We’re proposing that resource consent wouldn’t be required in these instances:  

• up to 11 metres (you can currently build up to 9 metres in the Residential Zone). Building consent will still be required.  
• up to 3 units/homes as part of a development. Anything more than this would require resource consent. 
• Resource consent would be required where developers are proposing more homes than we permit, for homes that don't meet our permitted development standards, or for sites in within the Stormwater Overlay showing areas with added stormwater requirements.

Read the Section 10A - Development Standards(PDF, 344KB)

You can find the full Section 10A section and other technical documents in the drop-down section below. Please note these standards should be read in conjunction with all rules of the zone.

We’ve added some new areas to the proposed plan and changed the name

You may have noticed the name of our proposed plan change has changed from Proposed Plan Change I: Medium Density Residential Zone to Proposed Plan Change I: Increasing Housing Supply and Choice.

This is to better reflect the aim of the proposed change and the addition of some neighbourhood centres, which are currently zoned to allow multi-unit housing. By adding these areas to the proposed zone, we aim to simplify the existing requirements for building multi-unit homes, addressing feedback from developers who find the current rules too complicated. Please note that all new homes will still require building consent.

Make a submission by 4pm on 4 February 2025

You can make a submission by -

• filling out the online form below, or
• emailing your submission, using a submission form below, to submission@pncc.govt.nz (subject ‘Proposed Plan Change I – Increasing Housing Supply and Choice’), or
• calling us on 06 356 8199 to have a copy sent to you.

Hard copies of the proposed plan change are available for viewing, along with paper submission forms at our Customer Service Centre, or any of the Council libraries. Written submissions can be delivered to the Customer Service Centre located at Te Marae o Hine - 32 The Square, or posted to:

Proposed Plan Change I – Increasing Housing Supple and Choice
The Governance Team
Palmerston North City Council
Private Bag 11034
Palmerston North 4442

Click here to view form.

Download a submission form(PDF, 304KB)