By the Explore Christchurch news desk · Published Thursday 12 November 2026
Christchurch City Council has notified Plan Change 17, a package of District Plan changes covering flood-prone land, building near the Waimakariri River stopbanks and earthworks. Submissions close at 5pm on Friday 11 December.
- Deadline
- Before 5pm, Friday 11 December 2026
- Who
- Property owners, buyers and sellers, anyone planning to build or dig, and people living near the Waimakariri River stopbanks
- In force
- Most proposed rules took legal effect when the change was notified on 4 November
- What to do
- Check your property on the council's map, then submit online, by email or on a paper form
Although this is still a proposal, most of it already counts. Under the Resource Management Act, the new rules for flood areas, the stopbank setbacks and most of the earthworks rules applied from the day the change was notified, 4 November.
Only two earthworks rules (8.9.2.1 P3 and 8.9.2.3 RD3) wait for the council’s final decision, which is pencilled in for October 2027.
Flood maps move out of the plan
The District Plan’s Flood Management Area maps would be dropped. In their place is a written definition, the Christchurch Inundation Area, based on a 1-in-200-year flood and shown on the council’s online Flood and Floor Levels Viewer.
The council says this lets the area be updated as soon as flood modelling or climate science improves, without going through a full plan change each time.
The fixed minimum floor level overlay would also go. New buildings in flood-prone places would still need minimum floor levels, but these would be worked out site by site, with updated calculations that allow for vertical land movement and sea level rise.
The council says the latest modelling adds some properties to the at-risk area and takes others out, while many stay the same. If a property is shown as vulnerable to flooding, its LIM may carry a note about it, as happens now.
Kāinga, Stewart’s Gully and Brooklands
When the District Plan was last reviewed, the stopbank setback rules downstream of the Christchurch Northern Motorway bridge were left out by mistake, so Kāinga, Stewart’s Gully and Brooklands have had no setback rules at all. PC17 brings them back as the Waimakariri River Lower Primary Stopbank Setback.
Because the flood risk there is lower, new homes and additions would be permitted. Upstream of the motorway, new buildings stay non-complying. The setback maps are also being redrawn to match the stopbanks’ real positions, using mapping from Environment Canterbury’s Waimakariri Flood Protection Project.
Digging, building platforms and hill sites
- All permitted earthworks would need erosion and sediment controls.
- Earthworks under a building’s footprint would lose their exemption from the permitted activity standards.
- Earthworks for building platforms on sites steeper than 1 in 6 would need resource consent, which matters most in the hill suburbs.
- Some earthworks for residential driveways and accessways would no longer need consent.
- New standards aim to stop earthworks pushing flood water or ponding onto neighbouring properties, and set out what to do if archaeological material turns up.
- Repairing earthquake-damaged residential land would be made easier.
How to have your say
Start by checking your address on the council’s interactive map or the Flood and Floor Levels Viewer, both linked from the Plan Change 17 page on Let’s Talk, where you can also read the full documents and submit online.
You can email Pl**********@******vt.nz, or pick up a paper form at the Civic Offices on Hereford Street or any council service centre or library. Submissions must arrive before 5pm on Friday 11 December. Submitters can ask to speak to an independent hearings panel, expected to sit in August 2027.
- Christchurch City Council, Let's Talk: Plan Change 17, released 4 November 2026
- Christchurch City Council public notice: Proposed Plan Change 17, released 4 November 2026
Explore Christchurch news desk: news@explorechristchurch.nz. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we’ll correct it.
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