Having worked closely with City Council staff over the last two months, the directors of Prestons, the proposed new suburban centre on the north-eastern outskirts of the city, are pleased that the Christchurch City Council's Regulatory and Planning Committee has overturned their previous recommendation and opened the door for their proposed Plan Change 30 to be notified. It is believed the full Council will make a final decision at its next meeting later this month. John Lindsay, director of developers Prestons Road Ltd, said that the invitation from the committee chair (Cr Sue Wells) to sit around the table and attempt to resolve matters prior to a full Council decision had been extremely useful. "We supplied Council staff with a raft of extra information which has obviously allayed fears that they had about the proposed development and allowed them to recommend to the committee that Plan Change 30 be notified," he said. The proposed change involved the rezoning of approximately 205 hectares of land between Lower Styx Road and Mairehau Road, to the east of Marshlands Road, from Rural to Living G (Prestons), including provision for commercial activities and a school. "We have spent three years and in excess of $1.7 million preparing the Plan Change application. The fact the council themselves described the application as 'setting the bar' for private plan change applications gives us confidence that the full Council will accept the recommendation and notify the change at their meeting later this month," he said.