28 Jul 2021

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A new development contributions policy will ensure that Christchurch City Council fairly recovers some of the costs of providing infrastructure for new residential and commercial developments.

“New developments often place additional demands on Council facilities, services and infrastructure. Rather than expecting ratepayers to bear the full costs of catering for that extra demand, we use development contributions as a way of recouping some of the costs directly from the developers,’’ says Mayor Lianne Dalziel.

Over the past 15 years the Council has invested on average about $50 million a year on infrastructure to service new growth development.  

The revenue received from development contributions repays this over time, with about $43 million recovered in the 2020/21 inancial year.

Mayor Dalziel says the new Development Contributions Policy approved by Council includes some significant changes from the current policy, which was adopted in 2016.

For example, it introduces sub-district catchments to allocate infrastructure costs and development contribution charges for water supply, wastewater collection, wastewater treatment and disposal, public transport infrastructure and active travel infrastructure.

“The area where property developers will notice the biggest difference is in the CBD, where will there will be a reduction in the development contributions they are charged. This reflects the fact that much of the development occurring in the CBD is utilising already existing infrastructure,’’ the Mayor says.

The new policy also introduces development contribution charges for community infrastructure, such as swimming pools, libraries and cemeteries, for both new residential and business developments.

 “We consulted the public about these changes earlier in the year and overall submitters were generally supportive and viewed development contributions as a fair way to fund growth infrastructure.

The new development contributions policy will come into effect from 1 August 2021.