The LURP – What is this? Where did it come from?

The Resource Management Act which came into force in 1991 was meant to streamline and expedite development BUT 20 years on we all know how time consuming, how litigious and how expensive anything to do with the granting of Resource Consents and the resolution of planning matters can be.

Councillors and local government staff must have been overjoyed to suddenly realise that the CERA legislation would enable them to achieve their aspirations and proposals with a minimum of legal challenge.

“LURP” – this is the acronym for the action being undertaken by planners from Environment Canterbury, Waimakariri, Selwyn and the City Council, to achieve their proposals for the criteria and zoning of land for residential and urban development.

Lurp – the Land Use Recovery Plan designed by local government officers will eventually be released by Gerry Brownlee as an instruction from him as to which areas should be rezoned and how he, as the Minister for Earthquake Recovery, believes development of the greater Christchurch urban area should proceed.

The Lurp team, made up of Ecan and various Council staff have held a number of public meetings but also held meetings with professional groups to consider and incorporate into their proposals thoughts from the private sector as to what direction and what form of development is most appropriate for the greater Christchurch Metropolitan Urban area.

Fox & Associates submitted a number of written suggestions to the Lurp team in April.  The Lurp team issued a document for community consultation in July calling for formal submissions.  There’s a huge amount of content in the plan, appendices, supporting information and explanations and it is easy to get lost trawling through the many CERA links.

All of the documents for the draft LURP can be found at the CERA website:

http://cera.govt.nz/recovery-strategy/built-environment/land-and-land-use/land-use-recovery-plan

We think the easiest way to uncover the intent of the LURP is to have a look at the planning maps.  They’re in Volume 2 – Appendices, with the Christchurch City maps shown on pages 133-150 of the pdf.

Submissions have closed and we now await the overview, acceptance and sign-off by the Minister for Earthquake Recovery.