Have you heard the rumblings this year about changes to Plan Change 120? Did you see it mentioned on the news and on social media last week? What are the changes?
Let’s take a step back-
What is Proposed Plan Change 120?
Proposed Plan Change 120 (PC120) is Auckland Councils combined intensification and natural hazard plan change. It includes:
- Intensification as required by the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS- UD), around city centre zones, metropolitan centre zones and within walkable catchments around these and rapid transit stops,
- Additional intensification to meet the plan enabled capacity (2.1 million dwellings) required by legislation,
- Increased management of natural hazards, including flooding, coastal hazards and areas susceptible to landslides.
PC120 was notified in November 2025, and the period for submissions closed on 19 December 2025. Provisions in PC120 related to natural hazards have immediate legal effect, meaning you must comply with them now or obtain resource consent.
What’s changing?
Last week, Hon Chris Bishop announced that legislation would change, to enable a reduced housing capacity equivalent requirement of 1.6 million, being a “midpoint between the 1.2 million housing capacity enabled by the AUP, and the 2 million that would have been enabled by PC120 (as currently notified”1.
Minister Bishop emphasised his expectation that more intensive development still occurs around City Rail Link (CRL) Stations, city centre zones, metropolitan centre zones and within walkable catchments around these and rapid transit stops. This seems a clear direction that intensification in these areas isn’t likely to change.
Minister Bishop also noted the city centre, and “unrealised potential” here, mentioning that existing provisions, such as setback requirements, tower dimension controls, and height limits, constrain development and should be revisited. This signals some changes may be coming in the CBD area, but given this area isn’t part of Plan Change 120 Minister Bishop signalled that central government may look to make regulations under the RMA to make these changes.
The flexibility coming seems to be around suburban Auckland, where in some cases unzoning had been proposed in PC120 to ensure the overall 2 million figure was achieved. This won’t however impact all suburban areas- the detail is yet to come.
The PC120 provisions related to natural hazards are unlikely to change.
What’s the process from here?
In short, its complicated. PC120 is part way through its statutory process, the period for submissions has closed and they’re being summarised by the Council. Incorporating the changes Minister Bishop has indicated will require legislation changes and resulting changes to process and PC120. In terms of details, its very much “watch this space”.
However, what we know indicatively is shown in the image below2:
The indicative process includes:
- Parts of PC120 withdrawn would immediately be out of scope for the rest of the process.
- After a preliminary hearing, the Hearings Panel/ Council would provide an opportunity for people to update their submissions and for non- submitters to join the process.
This remains subject to change, so we wait for details in the legislation changes.
What’s next?
We wait for more information from central government, and legislation changes. The PC120 timeframes havent changed yet, so at this stage it remains a tricky situation of trying to figure out how to enable these changes, how to include these and feedback in a process already underway, and in a way that people remain engaged and understand what’s happening. Keep an eye on our blogs for more information.
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