Fears of Selwyn becoming 'concrete paradise'

Selwyn councillors are concerned concrete could dominate outdoor spaces due to new rules under the replacement Resource Management Act.

That's if houses have any outdoor areas at all.

The RMA changes were stripping several decisions out of local control, council's building, planning, and regulatory services executive director Robert Love told councillors on Wednesday.

One that raised the most concern is the removal of the minimum requirements for outdoor space for new houses, and the potential flow-on effects that could have to an already under-pressure stormwater system.

The RMA, which has governed land use and environmental management for more than 30 years, is being replaced by two new laws.

The Government changes aim to simplify a complex consenting system and speed up development.

Selwyn's current rules under the district plan have maximum building site coverage limits, requiring an allocation of outdoor areas.

Love said it doesn't go as far as referring to any ratio of landscaping or hard surfaces for the outdoor areas.

The council's Annual Plan process highlighted several key stormwater, land drainage, and flooding challenges driven by rapid population growth, high groundwater, and low-lying geography.

Councillors fear those issues could be exacerbated if they can no longer set any requirements around outdoor space.

Cr Tracey McLeod was concerned that "someone could concrete it all" and Cr Samuel Wilshire said becoming a "concrete paradise" could impact stormwater.

"Will we need to drastically increase our stormwater and land drainage capacities because of runoff?"

He said the district is already seeing a shift from "large sections for mum and dad and four kids to a lot of professional couples that possibly don't want a garden".

"I think that's going to put us in a really sticky place."

Cr Denise Carrick was also worried about the "overall effect" it could have with a number of new subdivisions in the district.

"It's not going to be very nice for people," she said.

Love said the RMA changes will require making changes to the district plan, with a paper coming to the council in December.

As the changes took effect on October 30, the councils approved a change to allow its planning staff to confirm when building projects no longer need resource consent under the interim changes to the RMA.

The changes, introduced through the Government's new Planning Act, mean councils can no longer consider rules covering things like window sizes, minimum dwelling size and the outdoor living space when assessing resource consent applications.

If a development only breaches one of those rules, the council can confirm it is a permitted activity and does not need resource consent.

The move allows planning staff to make that confirmation as part of existing building consent checks, rather than requiring a separate process, saving applicants time and money.

The Ministry for the Environment said the changes do not require decision makers to disregard permeability or stormwater effects, or building coverage requirements.

"However, the extent to which existing district plan provisions continue to apply will depend on the wording of those provisions and how they interact with the new legislative framework."