25 May 2006

Council signals more discussions on Development Contributions Policy

The Christchurch City Council has signalled that it will consider having further discussions on its Development Contributions Policy with the development industry, but any final decisions on this will only be made after submissions are heard for the Long-Term Council Community Plan.

At its meeting today, the Council received a staff recommendation that it considers, as part of the LTCCP submission process, including transitional provisions in the new policy in relation to the level of development contributions charges over the next year, and setting up a staff-development industry working party after 1 July.

The Development Contributions Policy, which becomes effective on 1 July 2006, is being introduced to fund the cost of providing new infrastructure for growth in the city. The new policy charges the cost of growth to developers rather than primarily to ratepayers.

Mayor Garry Moore told today’s Council meeting that the staff recommendation gave him hope that the Council would be able to provide a more robust and fair policy. “It is in our interest as a city to ensure we don’t destroy the development market and property prices in our city, but we need to also make sure that the costs our Capital Works programme and the Urban Development Strategy require of us are also covered,” he said.

Council General Manager of Strategy and Planning, Michael Theelen, says he is pleased that the staff’s recommendation will go to Councillors for consideration at the time they are making final decisions on the LTCCP. It shows the development community, which is clearly concerned about the financial cost to them of the policy, that Council may be willing to listen and talk further.

ENDS

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