Lincoln residents appeal over housing development on prime farmland

A group of Cantabrians are taking their local council to court after it allowed a development to go ahead on prime farmland.

Selwyn District Council approved the 1700 house Lincoln subdivision in June, despite largely negative public feedback.

Resident group Lincoln Voice has lodged an appeal in the Environment Court, believing the exceptional farmland should be protected, not built on.

The soils chosen for development were rare and should remain zoned for farming, spokesperson Denise Cole said.

Land closer to Rolleston township – just ten kilometres away – would be better, she thought.

“It has infrastructure for a lot more people and [in long-term plans] was always intended to expand, so that is where development is meant to be. And there’s plenty of land still between Lincoln and Rolleston that is on stony soil, which is much better for building and not as good for agriculture.”

Lincoln residents understood there was a housing shortage in places and they were not against developments, Cole said.

“Clearly there is a need for housing, in the big cities there is a need for housing. We are a small, agricultural town on the edge – the very far edge – of Christchurch. We don’t have a housing crisis here.”

If the 1700 houses are built, they won’t be affordable, she added.

The outline plan for the Lincoln South development.
Photo: Supplied / Lincoln South

According data from the Real Estate Institute, Selwyn District’s average house price is the most expensive in Canterbury – at $821,000 in July 2022.

In a statement from developer Carter Group, Tim Carter said other options were considered, but the proposed 190 hectare section came out on top.

“The Lincoln South area is a natural extension of the existing residential development occurring to the south of the Te Whariki and Verdeco subdivisions. The scale of Lincoln South allows a large master planned development that embraces the natural waterways, cycle connections and a high amenity living environment,” the statement read.

Sections have not begun to be actively marketed yet, Carter continued, but “there had been a huge amount of interest in the development with over 300 registrations of interest from people wishing to purchase a section.”

Selwyn District Council has admitted it wasn’t planning to rezone the land before new national urban development laws were introduced in 2020.

These laws were supposed to be released alongside legislation for protecting highly productive farmland (National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land or NPS-HPL) – but that’s still yet to be announced.

New build homes in Lincoln. File photo.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

Denise Cole believed had it been in place, the development wouldn’t have got the greenlight.

But councils don’t need the policy to put protections in place, Environment Minister David Parker said in a statement.

“nder the present system, there is nothing preventing Councils from protecting highly productive land in their plans (or consideration of private plan changes), and some councils have done this,” the statement read.

The final decision on the legislation was expected at the end of August 2022 but there have been numerous hold ups with the legislation, including the pandemic, ministerial absences and an extra round of consultation, Parker explained.

It is now expected to be announced by mid to late September.

Work on the Environment Court hearing is expected to begin next month, Denise Cole concluded.