In our earlier blog (here), we talked about a draft plan change that’s been presented to Auckland Councilors and approved for consultation with local boards, mana whenua, other local authorities and government ministries

What is the draft plan change?

This is a potential replacement (in full or in part) for Auckland’s proposed Plan Change 78. You can find more about PC78 in our blogs, but basically PC78 was a result if central government requiring in 2022 that Council’s implement parts of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development and the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS), including that three dwellings up to three stories high could be constructed on most urban sites.

Why the change?

PC78 created a number of issues in Auckland, including:

• • • The MDRS enables growth almost everywhere in urban zones rather than focusing it in areas that had the infrastructure and other services to service it and create good urban environments.
    • As this was an unexpected change at central government level, local Council’s weren’t aware of it and hadn’t planned for it in their long-term planning- there was no funding for new services in areas where growth had before been limited and was now potentially tripled.
    • The MDRS legislation didn’t allow Councils to “opt out”. This created issues in areas where development wasn’t appropriate, such as in floodplains or coastal hazard areas. The 2023 floods in Auckland highlighted these issues even further.
    • In Auckland, the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) already provided for the regional projected growth.

What’s the process now?

The draft plan change is being consulted on with local boards, government ministries, other local authorities and mana whenua. This was scheduled to be completed by 5 September 2025. This feedback is proposed to be considered at Council workshops on 10 and 17 September.

In broad terms, Auckland Council has to decide if it wants to withdraw PC78 at all, and if yes whether that’s in full or in part. That decision has to be made by 10 October (but the Council have indicated a committee meeting on this is scheduled for 24 September 2025[1]). If yes, then a replacement plan change will be notified.

Are these the new rules?

No. This is a draft plan change- it will change through the preliminary consultation that’s underway now.  Assuming Auckland Councilors decide to proceed with the replacement plan change, this will then go through a specific Resource Management Act process. That process will include formal notification of the plan change, a period for submissions and then further submissions, hearings and then potentially appeals.

There are likely to be some parts of a replacement plan change that have immediate legal effect, but large parts will still be subject to change through this process.  We would recommend against designing your development to meet the draft plan change rules at this stage.

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Hannah Thomson is Director of Planning Plus® and has over 20 years of resource management experience working in both local government and the private sector. This includes five years at Rodney District Council in roles including Senior Planner and Team Leader.

Hannah has a wide range of experience including commercial, rural, residential and coastal development and subdivision on small to large scales and appearances at both Council and Environment Court as an expert witness for mediation and hearings. Hannah has assisted Councils with policy development and has also assisted private individuals with submissions to Council.

Please remember that the advice in this blog is general in nature and based on information and advice available at the time of writing. We recommend you get your own planning advice. As with all our blogs this information is preliminary in nature only and we have used our best endeavours to ensure it is correct at the time of writing. It is not intended to substitute for your own investigations or obtaining specific advice from professionals. Planning Plus Ltd^TM is not liable in any way for any errors or omissions.

© Planning Plus Ltd 2025

[1] Minute Item Attachments of Extraordinary Meeting of the Policy and Planning Committee – Thursday, 21 August 2025