Area Plans 2025
In this section
What's an Area Plan and why do we need one?
Area Plans are spatial plans that outline growth, development and change for specific areas within the district. The three areas of the Selwyn District that we have spatial plans for are:
The current Ellesmere Area Plan and Malvern Area Plans were adopted in September 2016. These “aim to provide high-level direction to guide the growth and sustainable management of area townships through to 2031”.
Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn gives a new vision and framework for us to update these Area Plans, and create a new Area Plan for Eastern Selwyn.
These Area Plans will help with the delivery of the Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn Strategic Framework. They will be implemented through Long-Term Plans, District Plan changes, and other council policies and projects.
Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn provides a new framework to update these Area Plans, as well as the creation of a new Area Plan for Eastern Selwyn. Much like how the current Area Plans are intended to “assist in the delivery of the Selwyn 2031: District Development Strategy (Selwyn 2031) vision”; new Area Plans will assist in the delivery of the Waikirikiri Ki Tua Future Selwyn Strategic Framework.
Selwyn is growing rapidly. Each area plan will set out a 30-year framework for sustainable growth and development. It will be created by working with local communities, businesses and other key stakeholders to identify how local townships should grow and develop in the future. The area plans will consider issues to do with local townships such as growth and development, the character of towns, and transport and infrastructure.
They will look at:
- How townships in Ellesmere, Malvern and Eastern could develop over the next 30 years
- What’s special about each town, and what features and characteristics should be retained as they grow
- How towns work together, and where housing, businesses, open space and community facilities could be located in the future
- What infrastructure is needed in different areas
Here are six areas that we consider:
Blue-Green Areas (like parks, rivers, and nature)
Housing
People and Communities
Economic Development (Shops and Jobs)
Transport
Infrastructure (roads, pipes and WIFI)
The Area Plan process won’t specifically rezone any land, but it will inform the Selwyn District Plan review, future Long Term Plan processes, other Council management plans and strategies, as well as privately-initiated plan change requests.
How can you be involved?
We want the Ellesmere, Eastern and Malvern Area Plans to reflect what local people think is important and how they want the area to develop in the future. Throughout November 2024 – February 2025, we ran a series of workshops, drop-in sessions and activations throughout the district gathering community feedback on what should be in the plans. This feedback is currently being combined with other information and research to develop three options for each area for engagement later in the year. This will then be refined into one option for each area for consultation, followed by a hearings process to finalise these.
