Draft District Plan to be released for community feedback
Published on 11 May 2022
After years of hardwork, Waitaki District Council is delighted to reach a key milestone in the review of the District Plan. The Draft District Plan was given the greenlight to be released for feedback at the recently held Council meeting on the 10th of May 2022.
The District Plan sets out the rules for the district, providing guidance on what you can and can't do as well as how you do it within the district. It affects everyone within our district as it spells out how you can use your land, how your business operates, housing, town growth, as well as regulates day to day activities in the district in relation to culture and heritage, the environment, land and surface water activities, hazards, risks and more. Reviewed in line with the Resource Management Act 1991, the Draft District Plan has a significant role in shaping Waitaki's future.
As the name goes, the Draft District Plan is simply an informal draft at this stage and has no legal effect whatsoever. It allows us to test our draft provisions with the community. The release of the Draft District Plan is an opportunity for the community to review the district plan and provide feedback before it becomes a legal document, so that it is reflective of what our community wants. Your feedback will be used to shape what goes into the next stages of the new District Plan process.
A much more detailed process will eventually follow once feedback has been incorporated in the plan. That will become the Proposed District Plan which is when Council will call for submissions.
Heritage and Planning Manager, David Campbell said, “This draft is very much a ‘first cut’ and has been a culmination of many years consulting with the community, gathering information and incorporating the various pieces, including the spatial and master planning processes across the district.” He further thanked the community for getting involved in these discussions to better inform our draft plan.
"A lot has also changed regionally and nationally, that guides how we must craft our draft plan. While some of this is less negotiable, we still have scope to refine the provisions for our district, our communities, and the environment we cherish and get to enjoy. A draft plan is a balancing act between competing interests, so we want to know if you think we have got it right," said Mr Campbell.
We will be engaging with the community over the winter months to gather feedback from our communities, mana whenua and stakeholders. Engagement will commence from 1 June and run through until the end of August 2022. There will be multiple ways to find out more and provide your feedback, so stay tuned to our social media and website for more information.