Proposed District Plan

Council notified its Proposed District Plan on the 21st of September and closed on the 15th of December. All information relating to the Proposed District Plan can be found in the Proposed District Plan document hub here.

The Proposed District Plan is intended to replace the Operative District Plan (the current one). From now on, resource consent applications will be considered under both the Operative District Plan and any relevant sections of the Proposed District Plan until the Proposed District Plan becomes fully Operative – when submissions, hearings, and appeals are finished. This is expected to take around two years. During this period, you should check both the Operative and the Proposed District Plans to fully understand the planning rules for the district.

At first, the Operative District Plan will have more weight. Then, as the hearings on the proposed plan progress and decisions are made, more weight will gradually be given to the Proposed District Plan. Get in touch with the Council planners if you have questions about reading the two plans at the same time.

To begin with, the notification of the Proposed District Plan will have little effect on what rules apply. However, there are a number of rules that have immediate legal effect from the date of notification. These are related to:

• historic heritage (areas, groups and items);
• activities on the surface of water;
• earthworks; and
• signs (as they relate to heritage areas).

Those rules that have immediate legal effect are marked by a gavel symbol on the Proposed District Plan –ePlan. 

What does ‘immediate legal effect’ mean?

With those rules that have immediate legal effect, you will need to consider both the Proposed District and the Operative District Plan. This may mean that you’ll need to apply for a resource consent under the Proposed District Plan, or apply for a resource consent under both the Proposed District Plan and the Operative District Plan.  Council planners will consider a number of factors when considering the weight they apply to both plans, including how far through the process the Proposed District Plan is. This consideration is done on a case-by-case basis.