Published: 18 Aug 2022
The project to complete the roadmap to sustainable growth in Timaru District will reach its final major stage in the coming weeks with the publication of the Proposed District Plan.
Years of hard work by Councillors, iwi partners, stakeholders and council staff has now come to an end with the District Plan – He Po He Ao Ka Awatea ready for formal publication and feedback.
Our District Plan is a blueprint and rule book to help guide the development of our district. The Resource Management Act 1991 requires each Council to have a District Plan and for it to be reviewed every 10 years.
Reviewing a District Plan is complex! It takes a huge amount of time and effort to ensure it is fit for purpose. For this review process, council added an extra step – they released an early draft to the community for initial feedback. This gave valuable insight from you, into your priorities and ideals which helped further shape the draft document.
Councillor Barbara Gilchrist who has been working as part of the project team describes the plan as a document that protects what the community values while enabling sustainable development.
”Things that are precious to us, significant natural areas, heritage, and our green spaces for example are protected while we can still grow.
“We want people to be able to build homes, for businesses and industry to grow and to welcome new people into the district, but we don’t want one to grow at the expense of the other – so it’s about striking a balance.”
To make the Plan freely available to the community we have created an ePlan- a digital document accessed online. The online District map enables you to see how the rules apply specifically to your property with multiple overlays. With a dropdown menu it is easy to find topics of significance to you.
It covers topics such as zoning, transport, stormwater, historical heritage and sites and areas of significance to Māori. If you are interested in knowing what the rules are around noise levels, subdivision or notable trees it is easy to dip into the ePlan and search for them.
Barbara is very excited about the ePlan, ‘Really for me this ePlan is for the community to use. It is really practical. It tells you what you can and can’t do at your place in a simple way.’ She encourages everyone to take the time to have a look.
It’s now time for your say. By registering online you can provide submissions during the public consultation period later this year on amendments to the Plan or just provide feedback with suggestions for improvements.
Over the coming weeks we will be publishing further information on specific aspects of the Plan to familiarize you with the document.
To see the draft district plan (which is the version first notified in 2020), visit: https://timaru.isoplan.co.nz/eplan/
NB: The version online is still the Draft District Plan. The Proposed District Plan which takes into account feedback to the draft plan will be made public following its adoption by council.
Last updated: 22 Aug 2022