Highly Productive Land - Canterbury Update

Environment Law partner Margo Perpick analyses the implications of ECan's draft Regional Policy Statement release.

The Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) has released its draft Canterbury Regional Policy Statement (CRPS), including a map of the Highly Productive Land (HPL) in the Canterbury region.  The pragmatic, balanced approach it has taken will assist in freeing up land near current urban boundaries for future urban development. 

Since September 2022, the National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL) has categorised land which falls into Classes 1, 2 or 3 of the Land Use Classification System as Highly Productive Land (HPL). This has been a considerable impediment in obtaining urban zoning of such land, as NPS-HPL does not allow such land to be rezoned for urban purposes unless the following tests are met:

• The urban rezoning is required to provide sufficient development capacity to meet demand for housing or business land; and

• There are no other reasonably practicable and feasible options for provided the required development capacity; and

• The environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits of rezoning outweigh the environmental, social, cultural and economic costs associated with the loss of highly productive land for land-based primary production, taking into account both tangible and intangible values.

The current approach of preventing urban development on Class 1, 2 or 3 land can have the undesirable outcome of causing urban growth to leapfrog the HPL, creating disconnection between urban growth areas, and preventing a well-functioning urban environment (which is one of the aims of the NPS-UD).  It also tends to rely heavily on the possibility of in-fill housing occurring, and does not provide sufficient, affordable greenfields opportunities. 

However, the NPS-HPL also requires each regional council to undertake re-mapping of HPL, and gives some leeway to take a more pragmatic, balanced approach.  In particular, regional councils need to have regard to the requirements of local authorities, under the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to provide sufficient zoned and infrastructure-ready land to meet the demands for housing and business growth over the next 30 years, while creating a well-functioning urban enviroment.

This interaction has been recognised and applied in the recent Environment Court decision Gardon Trust v Auckland Council, a successful appeal against a Council decision to decline a plan change application for rezoning of 30ha of land, adjacent to the existing Waiuku township, for housing.  The basis of the Council’s refusal to rezone was that the land contained Class 2 and 3 soils, and (in the Council’s view) was not necessary for meeting housing demand.  The Court reached a different view, recognising the competing needs of protecting highly productive land for agricultural uses, and providing sufficient land for urban growth.

In Gardon, the Court preferred the Applicant’s “real-world” assessment of availability of land for housing (including limitations on relying heavily on in-fill housing) to the Council’s overly theoretical approach of relying on population and property data.  In addition to taking a more realistic approach to the housing yield of already zoned land, the Court also acknowledged that HPL which was already subdivided into smaller parcels (less than 40 to 50 ha) was not likely to actually be used for productive purposes in the future.  

ECan’s re-mapping of HPL in the draft CRPS takes a similarly pragmatic approach. The upshot is that some land which contains Class 1, 2 or 3 soils has not been mapped as HPL by ECan in its draft CRPS, particularly where it is near to current urban boundaries and/or in small parcels. This approach will assist in freeing that land up for future urban development.

In further developments regarding HPL, the Government has now indicated its intent to amend the NPS-HPL, to remove Class 3 land from the definition of HPL.  The proposed amendment is out for consultation until 27 July 2025.

For expert guidance on how the reforms may affect your land or development, contact Margo Perpick or Chris Fowler.