Te Rārangi Wā ā-Arotake i te Mahere ā-Rohe
District Plan Review timeline

The current District Plan came into effect in 2000 and it needs an update. Due to the Resource Management Act 1991, we have a legal requirement to review the District Plan every 10 years. This is so we can make sure that we enable all the latest national policies and regulations.

Our timeline

There are three phases to the District Plan Review.

1. The Spatial Plan.
2. The Draft District Plan.
3. The final stage is the Proposed District Plan and its consultation.

What's happened so far

Draft District Plan engagement

In November 2021, we went to the public with the Draft District Plan to get feedback. We had 1,034 submissions with a wide range of views on a variety of topics.

The submission responses were analysed and key themes identified. We then created a detailed report and a summary report.

Proposed District Plan submissions

Submissions

Submissions were accepted between 18 July 2022 and 12 September 2022. Our team has read and summarised all submissions.

Further submissions 

Submissions were accepted between 21 November 2022 and 2 December 2022. Our team has read and summarised all further submissions.

What's next?

Proposed District Plan Hearings

Hearings for the Proposed District Plan started January 2023. This process gives submitters an opportunity to voice their submission to an Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) of resource management commissioners.

These hearings have been split into streams and have certain topics. We have published the expected dates for the hearings.

The hearings will be conducted by the panel of resource management commissioners.

If you have made a submission and wish to be heard, the Council will contact you to arrange a time to speak during the relevant hearing stream/s.

It is recommended that submitters review the relevant minutes and become familiar with the due dates associated with their hearing stream/s.

Getting the new District Plan approved

There are two separate processes for the Proposed District Plan to become operative.

1. Some parts of the plan must go through a streamlined process known as the Intensification Streamlined Planning Process (ISPP). These are the parts of the plan which are related to housing intensification relating to the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and other matters) Amendment Act 2021. This covers roughly 60 percent of the plan.
   
   Hearings on ISPP matters were completed in 2023 and the Council has now made decisions on these provisions. See more information about decision making.


2. The rest of the plan will go through the normal process, as set out in the first schedule of the Resource Management Act 1991.
   
   Hearings of the rest of the Plan are taking place in 2024.

The key difference between the two processes is that the ISPP does not allow appeals of decisions. Note that matters in the normal process that were heard in the first tranche of hearings can be appealed.

As a result, the timeframes between the two processes are different. The ISPP takes approximately one year until they are legally operative. The traditional process can take between five to ten years for all provisions to become legally operative, due to appeals being resolved.