A Christchurch community living with the 'necessary evil' of a nearby rubble dump hope there's light at the end of the tunnel.

With earthquake demolitions taking longer than expected, the Burwood Resource Recovery Park has been granted permission to stay open until 2021.

It will also expand to allowing 160,000 tonnes of earthquake waste to be disposed of.

But Burwood Pegasus Community Board chair Andrea Cummings said in the end they're looking forward to the future.

"We'd like to get something out of it at the end [after] what we have had to put with," she said.

"I think it's a win win all round that the community are going to get some more fantastic outdoor adventure areas right in their backyard".

Cummings said the extension until 2021 is not ideal but they understand.

She said there's no other option and the community sees that this is an extraordinary situation to be in.

A new earthquake waste cell would also be created, with a disposal capacity of up to 540 tonnes of material.

But the decision isn't set in stone - it can still be appealed by the parties involved over the next few weeks.