Christchurch City Council is digging its heels in over the density rules that the Government wants the main cities to adopt. Under the new rules, the Garden City would be expected to allow three-storey residences to be thrown up in many parts of town.
Councillors, who were supposed to be submitting their own plans for how they would comply with the new law, are instead saying they want the government to reconsider how the law might best be applied in a heritage city such as Christchurch.
But the government could also dig its heels in, too, putting it at loggerheads with the local leadership of the country's second-largest city, currently led by a respected former Labour cabinet minister.
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel spoke to Guyon Espiner.
