Council has been working since September 2024 on preparing a Plan Change to address housing need in Invercargill.
There is enough zoned land to accommodate housing growth generally, but there is existing unmet need for smaller attached medium density housing within a 1.5km radius of the CBD. Amending the District Plan rules will help unlock development to address this.
Our District Plan policies and rules do not enable medium density housing development. We have modelled the proposed Plan Change approach against a range of growth scenarios and options, and the Plan Change would unlock significant new capacity that would meet high-growth needs to ease central housing shortages.
This Plan Change aims to:
- Enable greater density and diversity of housing choice in the Residential 1 and 1A Zones in Invercargill;
- Promote well-designed housing to through changes to objectives and policies and
- Delete references to the expired Invercargill City Council Bylaw 2016 and update to reference the Code of Practice for Subdivision, Land Use, and Development which sits outside the District Plan.
Plan Change 2 was publicly notified for submissions on 14 January 2026. You can make a submission here, or email the prescribed Form 5 to planning@icc.govt.nz, or post it to:
Housing and Code of Practice Plan Change (Plan Change 2)
Invercargill City Council
Private Bag 90104
Invercargill
Submissions close at 5pm on 13 February 2026.
- An information sheet on the plan change is here.
- The public notice of the plan change is here.
- The Plan Change and supporting documents, as well as preferred approach documents are here.
Public Notices – General
