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Last modified: 29 Jul 2020 10:32am

Initial public consultation now open on Selwyn District Plan

Selwyn District Council is kicking off initial public consultation on the review of its current District Plan.

The District Plan is essentially the district’s rule book on how land can be used and developed. The Council is undertaking the review to make sure it’s still fit for purpose and up to date with any relevant changes that have happened since the last Plan was notified. All Councils are required to review their District Plan every 10 years.

This week the Council has released draft changes to a range of topics in the Plan for public feedback.

Environmental Services Manager Tim Harris says the Council wants to ensure that the new District Plan helps rural, business and residential areas to thrive.

“At the same time we want to make sure our district remains uniquely Selwyn – protecting the things that are important to the character of the district, and managing our natural and physical resources in a sustainable way.

“The District Plan potentially affects a wide cross-section of the community. It controls the things you can do on your property, for example, and what activities are allowed to take place in different parts of the district.

“It’s important that we hear from as many people as possible to check whether we’re on the right track with the draft changes we’re proposing.”

The changes being considered in this phase of consultation span across 22 different topics which are likely to have most impact and be of most interest to the wider public.  Topics have been grouped into four categories according to where they occur and who they’re most likely to affect: Business, Rural, Residential and District-wide.

Details of the changes can be found in the consultation summary document ‘Are we on the right track?’

“Anyone can provide their feedback on the draft changes proposed so far. We encourage you to also provide any supporting facts, data, examples and documentation to support your comments.”

More topics are expected to be added to the consultation summary document later in August.

Feedback from this consultation will help inform the new rules to be included in the Proposed District Plan, which is expected to be notified for formal public consultation in early 2020. The new District Plan is anticipated to be in place, subject to any Environment Court appeals, in early 2022. Until then any new resource applications will be assessed against the current District Plan.

Feedback can be provided online, at drop-in sessions during August/September, or by email or post. For more information and details on consultation visit our consultation page.

Feedback is open until 5pm on Monday 8 October.