An amazing day for Wellington

Minister Bishop just confirmed that Wellington is in for a lot more homes, and we love it.

Wow. What a result.

Minister Bishop has today released his decisions on Wellington City Council’s proposed District Plan. Councillors in March suggested a slew of pro-housing amendments to the flawed IHP report. Today the Minister agreed with nearly all of those amendments.

We are particularly glad to see the Minister agreed to upzone Kilbirnie centre rather than agree to a further plan change process - a sensible decision that reflects the clear requirements in the NPS-UD.

While we would’ve loved to see the 10 heritage buildings (including the crumbling Gordon Wilson Flats) that councillors delisted be confirmed, we understand that technical process requirements made that too difficult. Positive noises have been made by the Mayor and the Minister about reforming the heritage system as a whole, which is badly needed.

Thank you Minister, thank you councillors, and most of all thank you to all of our supporters who helped us see through this campaign. We started this in 2020 and this is the result we’ve been advocating for since day one.

Wellington’s poor housing record has held the city back for too long. This is a massive step forward in creating a city that is welcoming, affordable and vibrant - truly, a city for people.

Read about the decision:

• Decisions on Wellington City Council’s District Plan (Beehive press release)

• Minister backs sweeping housing changes for city (The Post)

• War for Wellington: Minister approves sweeping upzoning, rejects heritage changes (The Spinoff)

• RMA Minister rejects Wellington council's bid to remove heritage protections from buildings (RNZ)

• Chris Bishop makes way for more housing in Wellington but keeps controversial heritage listings (NZ Herald)

• Minister Chris Bishop rejects Wellington Independent Hearings Panel’s plan for lower housing growth in Wellington (Business Desk)

We’ll be organising a celebration, and thinking about ‘what next’ for the organisation soon.

Ngā mihi nui,

Marko, Eleanor and the entire City for People team.