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Last modified: 29 Jul 2020 10:41am

At its next meeting the Council’s District Plan Committee will receive reports on a number of different topics, indicating a preferred option on draft changes to the current Plan, which will form the starting point for engaging with the wider community.

“While the recent public attention has been on the Long-Term Plan for the district, the Council has also been engaging with stakeholders and partners on a range of topics which are under review,” says Tim Harris, the Council’s Environmental Services Manager.

“We’re looking at all the rules and policies in the current District Plan – which sets out how our district’s resources need to be managed – and consulting with our partners and stakeholders over what changes, if any, need to be made in the next Plan.

“This is so that the new District Plan sets a clear direction for our district’s development and reflects our communities’ needs and expectations, and is up to date with any legislative and regulative changes since the last District Plan was notified.”

One of the preferred option reports coming to next week’s meeting will be on quarrying. This will look at how the existing rules relating to quarrying might be changed, based on expert analysis, in the new Plan, but will not discuss new or proposed quarry applications within Selwyn.

“The quarrying report, like all other ones, is the first step in shaping any changes that could be made to the current District Plan on rules and policies specific to the topic,” Mr Harris says.

Landowners and wider public will have a number of consultation opportunities for feedback on the draft changes at different stages of the District Plan Review. An initial public consultation on a range of matters and draft changes, including on quarrying, is expected to take place between July and October.

“We’ve decided to start public consultation in July as by then we will have finished consultation on the next Long Term Plan and we wanted to avoid confusion and consultation fatigue.

“However, in the meantime if people have feedback on the preferred options endorsed so far, we’d love to hear from them,” Mr Harris says.

Interested parties can find out more information on the District Plan Review and opportunities to provide feedback on the Council’s engagement hub Your Say Selwyn.

“We want as many people as possible to have a say on the matters that are important to them, so we’re looking at different ways of how they can get engaged. We’re hopeful that the information and resources on our online engagement hub will encourage more people to get involved”, says Tim.

At this stage it’s expected the Proposed District Plan will be notified for formal public consultation in early 2020. 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.

District Plan Review – what’s the process?

  • Review of current rules and policies specific to a topic, for example quarrying, informed by targeted landowner and/or stakeholder consultation.
  • Identification of issues with current rules and development of options to address these issues.
  • Present preferred options report for addressing issues to the Council’s District Plan Committee for endorsement.
  • Targeted consultation with stakeholders and affected landowners on preferred option post endorsement by the District Plan Committee.
  • Wider public consultation on a range of issues and draft changes to the current District Plan (expected to take place between July and October this year).
  • Formal public consultation on the notified Proposed District Plan with all proposed changes.