The cost of Christchurch City Council's five-year battle against city-wide housing intensification has been tallied

More than eight-million dollars and 30-thousand hours of council staff time has been spent since 2021.

That's the equivalent of one person working full time for 15 years.

Much of the work ceased last week, when the Government granted an exemption from city-wide intensification.

The exemption limits the potential for three, three-storey homes per section of land, to a quarter of the city.