Transcript

(Please note this has been automatically generated by AI from the audio file, so there are likely to be inaccuracies)

SPEAKERS

Hamish Barrell, District Planning Manager; Stephen Doran, Communications & Engagement Manager

Stephen Doran  00:05

Welcome to the Timaru District Council cast this week we have Hamish Barrell talking about one of the most significant things council does, but probably one of the least understood, District Plans. So for the non planners amongst us, which there are many, can you give us a brief overview what that actually is?

Hamish Barrell  00:19

We are engaging on the proposed plan, which many of you may have heard of, which is an update to the District Plan, and it's been many years in coming to fruition. We went out for notification in September last year, we called for submissions and we've got I believe, about 450 submissions or there abouts.  What's looking to happen now is we're going to, in due course, go out for further submissions via the submissions, there's an opportunity for those who have made a submission to look at those and to either support them or oppose them. And with that, we would then get on to hearings where we the matters that have been raised in submissions are deliberated upon,

Stephen Doran  01:05

It is quite a technical document, but it does actually have influences on people's everyday lives, doesn't it?

Hamish Barrell  01:10

What does it actually give effect to you can think of it perhaps as a rulebook everyone sort of has rights associated with with the land that they own. And these potentially can restrict what activities you can take place, and also the activities on your neighbour's land as well. There's also some outcomes that the community wants to, for the benefit of the environment, protection of rivers, protection of rock art sites, protection of landscapes, and, and so on, and so forth. So it's trying to get the right mix of activities in the right place, and also at the right time, with infrastructure, where needed and the necessary public support and funding that can back up activities.

Stephen Doran  01:59

You said that the plan has been under review for nearly a decade now. Why does it take that long?

Hamish Barrell  02:04

Yeah, that's that's a good question. And a lot of work obviously goes into it. There's some considerable requirements around evidence and consultation and hearing from the public. And what they have to say, we have gone through a growth management strategy. And we have done a draft plan in 2020. We have taken on board that feedback in terms of the proposed plan, which gives affect to some rules. And there's now a statutory process that that must be followed. And as I've said before, further submissions hearings before you can even consider what should come out the other end. So people often say, Well, look, I don't like the outcome, I wanted a change, well, this is the time to make that change. And so we have to consider that that voice of the community and the different voices within it, which often can differ from each other. There can be a wide spectrum of views on certain issues. And that takes time to work through

Stephen Doran  03:16

So we've passed the point where people can make new submissions on the plan. But there's still opportunities for people to take part in the process at this point?

Hamish Barrell  03:25

What we've coming up to is further submissions, which is a little bit unique in terms of consultation processes. So let me explain it's essentially the opportunity to people to either support or oppose a submission that's been made. One of the things about the planning system is that people will submit and potentially people may agree or disagree with, with what's actually been submitted on if you want to be heard, either in support or agreement of what somebody else has put forward, well this is the opportunity to do that. You do have to have an interest in what's being put forward, that's more than the interest of the general public. But other than that proviso, then anyone, even those who haven't made a submission of entitled to get involved. I would strongly recommend that you keep looking at the website, we will contact those who have submitted and we will put out some general information. But the time to make further submissions is quite limited. We're looking at 10 days. So that doesn't give you much time. It is important then to respond and look through what other people have said and how that may or may not affect you.

Stephen Doran  04:44

Probably one of the hottest topics and one of the areas where people have the most level of interest is availability of housing supply of land and how does the council control that and how does the council shape the city around that?

Hamish Barrell  04:56

we've got a lot more national direction from Government now in terms of what's things we need to be looking at, we, as I've said, need to take on board in prepare a whole lot of evidence which we've done. And I mentioned the growth management strategy on that. That's been updated and refreshed just before the proposed plan. Obviously, there are the traditional zones. There are urban zones for residential. There's also rural zones. And we're looking to, for the most part intensify some of our urban living, and also provide for some more land around the periphery of Timaru. Particularly in the north, it seems to be where it's easiest to provide infrastructure, and some of the least constraints.

Stephen Doran  05:43

Just because you zone land though, it doesn't mean it will become available for housing?

Hamish Barrell  05:46

Absolutely. It's up to the individual landowners to come forward with proposals and and actually develop the land that's been zoned that way, that's very much an issue with the extent to which a district plan can actually achieve or deliver a promise of housing, we'd look we do depend totally on individual landowners and developers. And often councils working together with that infrastructure component, to make good urban areas, good functioning urban areas, and urban areas where people don't have to travel too far in and out of town, to work, and so on

Stephen Doran  06:27

How does to move district and even including its towns Temuka, Geraldine, Pleasant point, how does that compare with other areas and the sort of the challenges of doing that?

Hamish Barrell  06:36

We were relatively as an area, we're quite an affordable area, we got a range of different sort of housing mixes. Like I say, though, we would have seen it if anyone's travelled through Christchurch recently that there is more of a focus on what they termed medium density residential living, and at the moment, we have a limited amount of that, there's a good deal of sort of the traditional suburban housing. And over time, we expect to see some shift in that. And indeed, that as what government's trying to encourage,

Stephen Doran  07:14

You mentioned national policy statements, how much control does that take out of your hands as the District planner as such that you have to follow a set of rules that come from elsewhere?

Hamish Barrell  07:23

The district plan is one piece of the system, national direction can be quite prescriptive, and in terms of what we have to do, we have to take, we have to give effect to that national direction. So we do have to be very aware of it in terms of everything that we do and write and propose and put forward. If we don't, then it would be quite easy for somebody who is objecting to a particular aspect to challenge us on that. And look, for the most part, the the increase in national direction is a helpful thing. And we started off from a fairly low level of guidance when the resource management act originally came out. And that was one of the key complaints is that it has taken governments so long to to produce some of the policy. But of course, look often with national direction, there can be unintended consequences for individual districts. And we're no exception to that.

Stephen Doran  08:19

Because I guess South Canterbury, and Timaru is a bit of a food bowl as well. So I guess a lot of our land will fall under the highly productive side. So that might constrain some development?

Hamish Barrell  08:27

Yes, that piece of national direction was a bit of a surprise. We knew it was coming. But there wasn't much guidance on what it was going to say. And I think the change has been that in addition to versatile one and two soils, they're also looking at versatile three. So that does cover a lot more of the district than what we were perhaps anticipating we were quite fortunate to have gone out with our proposed plan when we did. But even so there are some challenges that are going to come our way through the hearings as a result of trying to give effect to that, that national direction. It is one of those pieces of national policy where we possibly might argue that it doesn't fit our context as well as other areas.

Stephen Doran  09:20

The RMA is a bit of a national whipping boy at the moment for all parties. With the reforms coming down the road, which may see a degree of centralization of planning functions, as a lot of the work you're doing right now we're going to go to waste.

Hamish Barrell  09:31

Now we don't see that at all going to waste where it goes from here, though there is uncertainty. Obviously, we're waiting for two new bills in front of Parliament. There's the natural and built environment bill and the Spatial Planning Bill. We're expecting them to come back from Select Committee, and the government certainly indicated it wants to have those bills enacted before the next parliamentary term or the election if that goes through  And then we will, as a region likely move slowly, perhaps to a more of a combined plan. But look, the the last plan was sort of started back in the early 1990s, we really do need something fit for purpose. And no matter what comes out, we would expect that the work that's gone into this proposed plan will be incorporated to at least a large degree and the new whatever combined plan comes out whenever it does. And again, if it could be another five to 10 years before that happens. So we'd like to think that this is a really good stepping stone in the right direction for this district.

Stephen Doran  10:45

Do you feel any future planning authority if they exist, but they wouldn't come in with a blank sheet of paper where they would have to depend on what had been done by councils previously?

Hamish Barrell  10:53

We are going to enter a whole lot of of uncertainty, but no, not everything's going to be changed. Well, you would expect that the work that we've done to put the district plan into a user friendly e-plan framework is going to be of assistance, that sort of look at the local issues that's reflected in the the zones will be able to be incorporated as best they can. There's there's absolutely no guarantees. And yet, it would just make good sense to incorporate the work that we've done in a future document.

Stephen Doran  11:26

How do we rate against other councils and our level of preparedness for this are we going to go into in quite strong position that we've done than the Mahi?

Hamish Barrell  11:33

Up and down the region councils are in different positions, you've got Christchurch, which and the greater Christchurch area, which are sort of trying to update their plans in line with national direction or long the intensification of housing bill. So that's been a bit of a media area of focus. Other districts are at varying stages. I'd like to think that having a second generation plan will ultimately help Timaru to be first and foremost, when people do look to start the process again, with the Combined Plan format.

Stephen Doran  11:33

As a planner with a fairly high level view of the district, what do you hope to get out of the new district plan?

Hamish Barrell  12:18

Well, we first and foremost, we do want to get some new growth areas established both for industry and housing, we also want to allow for greater intensification in parts of the existing towns, we have very keen in a number of areas to update the information so that people have greater accuracy in terms of natural hazards, and that work has evolved a lot more. And we've also taken on board a lot of what Arowhenua are striving to achieve and their aspirations. And that's been a really helpful and I believe successful conversation to date. Going forward, they're looking to protect a lot more of their sites. Together, we will be able to also focus on a better quality environment, we have a number of waterways and coastal areas that are degraded. And this plan will help to protect some of those  It is and we haven't looked to be too extreme in any one area. We recognise that our economy is based on farming and agriculture. And so we're looking to support that we are also looking to support growth and businesses. And we're also looking to cater for a larger population. And that isn't going to please everyone some of the changes. There are tension points. And look, this is part of the whole plan processes to work through those and for people to feel like they've they've actually been heard and listened to and that when changes are made that it's going in the direction that the local community want.

Stephen Doran  13:18

So it's a balance of nature, a balance of development, a balance and everything really? Hamish thank you for your time.

Hamish Barrell  14:05

Thank you