South Taranaki District Plan Review South Taranaki District Plan Review South Taranaki District Plan Review

South Taranaki District Plan Review

Locally conceived, locally relevant

The council decided to seek help, so it could meet its obligation under the Resource Management Act, which requires 10-yearly plan reviews. Boffa Miskell was selected to manage the review, including policy development, consultation and preparation of the new district plan.

Preliminary scoping showed that the existing plan structure worked well and the district’s environment was not under significant pressure despite major farming, oil and gas activities. However, a number of resource management issues needed to be addressed and plan provisions updated to reflect current practice, so a full plan review was undertaken instead of partial plan changes.

A systematic and consultative review and policy development process followed, aimed at resolving as many issues as possible. Key stakeholders in the district’s towns, rural and productive sectors were consulted for their views while the elected councillors worked through the details of the district plan in a series of workshops. The issues addressed included:

  • small town economic challenges and opportunities;
  • heritage building protection and earthquake strengthening;
  • contrasting views on oil and gas exploration and extraction;
  • the need to update policies in line with the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2010 – Boffa Miskell assessed and mapped the coastal environment, including identified outstanding natural features and landscapes;
  • the need to upgrade the council’s planning maps – Boffa Miskell checked all the spatial data and produced new GIS maps for the new plan.

The process saw a high degree of political and stakeholder engagement, aimed at ensuring the new plan would be user-friendly whilst addressing the district’s resource management needs. The new plan was notified in August 2015 and is expected to be finalised through the formal hearings process by September 2016.

Our role

Project management, statutory planning and policy advice, plan preparation, consultation, landscape assessment, spatial data and GIS mapping services.

The facts

ClientSouth Taranaki District Council
Project teamClaire Kelly
Hamish Wesney
Rhys Girvan
Worked with

Acousafe (noise)
Environmental Resource Management (hazardous substances)
Ivan Bruce (archaeology)
Neil Phillips (biodiversity)

Project dateLate 2013 – August 2015, when new proposed plan notified