Destiny Church wants to seat 1200

The Destiny Church wants to triple the number of seats in the auditorium of its Mt Wellington industrial building-cum-church to fit in 1200 people on Sundays.

But it will have to comply with Auckland City Council noise rules as part of the approval process for the expansion.

"Churches like ours are on the increase," said spokeswoman Janine Cardno. "There are a number of them in Auckland and they are growing."

The Mt Wellington church is surrounded by industrial buildings on three sides and housing on one side.

It has applied to the council for consent to make internal alterations to its Allright Place building, which is a business zoned site. As well as wanting to increase seating, the publicly advertised application includes a new cafe. Resource consent will be required to cover the floor area, car parking issues and provision of a child care centre within 30m of a residential zone. Noise, generated by singing on Sunday mornings and evenings, will also be covered in the consent process.

Janine Cardno said complying with noise rules should not be a problem, as there were governors on the building's sound system. Sunday evening services also began early and finished early.