Mayor & Councillors approve District Plan for notification

Published on 17 December 2024

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At today’s meeting of Waitaki District Council, the Mayor & Councillors agreed to approve the recommended proposed District Plan, and that it should proceed to notification in 2025.

The District Plan is the planning policy document that sets the rules for how land can be used across the district. Under the Resource Management Act every Council is required to have a district plan and is required to undertake a review of that plan on a regular basis.

The approval and move towards notification of the Proposed District Plan by Council follows a 13-month review of the Draft District Plan by the District Plan Review Subcommittee. It considered the entire draft document and maps during this period. The overall District Plan review began in 2014.

This process saw refinements and changes made to the Draft District Plan by the District Plan Subcommittee.

With today’s approval and following notification there will be a public submission process commencing Saturday 1 March 2025 and running through to Friday 9 May 2025.

These submissions will be heard and considered to further refine the Proposed District Plan, allowing those who wish to address elements of the plan the legal and appropriate method to have their say.

This is a statutory public consultation process under the RMA, and submissions will be considered and heard by a Council appointed Hearings Panel.

All ratepayers will be directly notified by mail and public notices will be published in all local newspapers, as directed by the RMA. Additional publicity will be carried out to make people aware of the submission period. A “Friend of the Submitter” will also be available over the submission period to assist people to make their submissions as required.

ENDS