The hearing was held on Tuesday 10 May 2022. For more information on the hearing, including all relevant reports please see the page below.

Please note that additional correspondence that may relate to this hearing can be found below:
Directions of the Commissioners and Hearing Panel 
Submitters Correspondence 
Council Officers

Notice of hearing

Please note that submission points that are considered to be beyond the scope of the Proposed District Plan or where a further submission does not relate to an original submission point will also be addressed in this hearing.

Detailed schedule 

Here you can find the detailed agenda for the hearing, including which submissions will be heard within each time slot.

Section 42A report

This report is prepared by Council staff in accordance with Section 42A of the RMA. It recommends (with reasons) whether any changes should be made to the notified Proposed Plan in response to the submissions and further submissions. These recommendations do not bind the Hearings Panel.

The report is intended to assist the Hearings Panel to make decisions, and to provide submitters with an opportunity to see how their submissions have been evaluated and the recommendations made by Council staff, prior to the hearing.

Submitter evidence

Expert evidence

Submitters who intend to call expert evidence in support of their submissions are directed to provide written briefs of that evidence to the Hearings Administrator no later than 10 working days prior to the relevant topic-based hearing, except for the Rezoning Requests hearing, which has a different sequence of evidence exchange. All expert witnesses presenting briefs of evidence are to include a summary statement that is no more than two A4 pages long at the beginning of their evidence. Expert evidence is that written by qualified planners, engineers or scientists, for example, prepared in accordance with the Environment Court’s Practice Note 2014 for expert witnesses.

Written evidence by submitters

If submitters intend to provide written evidence themselves, or have non-expert people appear on their behalf, then they are requested and strongly urged to also provide a written statement of that evidence to the Hearings Administrator no later than 10 working days prior to the relevant topic-based hearing.

Pre-hearing and expert conferencing

Here you can find information on any Council initiated pre-hearing meeting with submitters or any expert conferencing directed by the Hearings Panel.

Legal submissions

If any party intends to have legal counsel present legal submissions, they are requested to provide those submissions to the Hearings Administrator no later than 5 working days prior to the relevant topic-based hearing.

Hearing presentation

All hearings will be public and livestreamed on Council’s YouTube channel.

Post hearing correspondence and Council reply

Correspondence from any party who is requested to provide further information by the Hearings Panel following the conclusion of the hearing can be found here. Following the conclusion of each hearing the Council will provide a written ‘Section 42A Reply Report’, briefly outlining any amendments to their original recommendations and also a response to any questions from the Hearings Panel arising during the course of the hearing.

The Council has prepared and released the Designations Right of Reply Report:

Council Recommendations and Decisions of Requiring Authorities

The Council’s decision relating to Council (SDC) designations and its recommendation to other requiring authorities can be accessed through the link below. Any recommended amendments are contained in Appendix 1 of the decision. Appendix 2 shows further amendments recommended as a result of the other RMA processes outside of the Proposed District Plan.

Hearing 29: Designations [PDF, 1215 KB]

Amendments recommended by the Section 42A Report author that have been adopted by the Hearing Panel are shown in strikeout and underlining. Further or different amendments recommended by the Hearing Panel are shown in strikeout, underlining and red font.

The list of whether submissions and further submissions are accepted, accepted in part or rejected are outlined in Appendix 1 of the Section 42A report, except if altered by the Council’s decision.

The decisions of other requiring authorities can be accessed through the links below.

CNZ Decision of Chorus   appeal period closed on 30 October 2023

CPW Decision of Central Plains Water Ltd [PDF, 178 KB].  appeal period closed on 30 October 2023


KRH Decision of KiwiRail Holdings Ltd  [PDF, 109 KB] appeal period closed on 30 October 2023

MCOR Rolleston Prison Decision of Ministry of Defense  appeal period closed on 30 October 2023

MDEF Decision of Minister of Defence West Melton Rifle Range (MDEF-3) appeal period closes on 18 January 2024

MDEF Decision of Minister of Defence MDEF-1, MDEF-2 and MDEF-4 appeal period closes 22 January 2024

MPOL Decision of Minister of Police (New Zealand Police)  [PDF, 268 KB]- appeal period closed on 30 October 2023

ORION Decision of Orion appeal period closed on 30 October 2023

TPR Decision of Transpower appeal period closed on 30 October 2023

Council has received and responded to requests to extend the timeframe within which requiring authorities notify the Council whether they accept or reject its recommendations in whole or in part:

NZDF Request for time limit extension [PDF, 215 KB]
NZDF Time limit extension  [PDF, 58 KB] until 24 November 2023