District-wide matter: Home-based business

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District Plan Review consultation now closed.

Initial public consultation on key draft changes to the current Selwyn District Plan closed on Monday 8 October 2018. Thank you to everyone who let us know what they thought of the review so far.

What’s next?

Following this initial public consultation on the District Plan Review, the Council will consider all feedback and start developing detailed provisions for the Proposed District Plan. Please note that a summary report on the initial public consultation will be made available on Your Say Selwyn website at www.selwyn.govt.nz/districtplanreview.

It’s expected the Proposed District Plan will be

District Plan Review consultation now closed.

Initial public consultation on key draft changes to the current Selwyn District Plan closed on Monday 8 October 2018. Thank you to everyone who let us know what they thought of the review so far.

What’s next?

Following this initial public consultation on the District Plan Review, the Council will consider all feedback and start developing detailed provisions for the Proposed District Plan. Please note that a summary report on the initial public consultation will be made available on Your Say Selwyn website at www.selwyn.govt.nz/districtplanreview.

It’s expected the Proposed District Plan will be notified in early 2020 for formal public consultation. The longer timeframe is due to the local government elections at the end of 2019 and ensuring the newly elected Council endorses the Proposed District Plan before it gets notified.


We want to know what you think about the draft changes to home-based related rules and policies in the current District Plan. These draft changes have been endorsed by the Selwyn District Council for further development as part of its District Plan Review.

How can I have a say?

To give us your feedback on the draft changes , you can:

There will be many consultation opportunities for feedback at different stages of the District Plan Review and this is the first such opportunity. It’s expected that the new District Plan will be notified in early 2020 and be fully in place, subject to any Environment Court appeals, in March 2022.

Background

Home-based business in the current District Plan

A home-based business is an activity which generates an income and takes place at home. It relies on the home still having a primary domestic purpose and it must involve a household member who resides on the site.

Currently almost any business can be set up in the residential and rural zones without a resource consent as long as it meets the standards for maximum size of the activity and maximum number of employees.


  • Key draft changes for the future District Plan

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    Key draft changes are aimed at providing the best balance between making it easy to set up a home-based business and encouraging other businesses to locate in the district’s commercial and business centres, unless there is a need for it to be located in the rural area.

    The Council’s District Plan Committee has endorsed the following key draft changes for further development:

    • Home-based business continues to be a permitted activity in both rural and residential zones, as long as the business meets certain permitted standards.
    • Develop permitted standards specific for home-based businesses to ensure that the scale of businesses and any adverse effects (eg noise and traffic) on the neighbouring environment are appropriately managed. For example, set a maximum number of people who can be employed (keep the current level of up to two full time equivalent employees who don’t live on the site), a maximum size of a home-based business (eg a maximum floor area) and limitations on the hours of operation for visitors to the site and car parking.
    • Other business activities in the residential zones will likely require a resource consent and will be considered to be appropriate if, among other things, they are of a scale anticipated within the zone and any adverse effects are adequately addressed.


  • Summary of key issues with the current District Plan

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    As a result of the review of current policies and rules specific to intensive farming, we’ve identified the following issues with the current District Plan:
    • Current District Plan doesn’t have rules and policies that specifically manage home-based businesses in residential and rural zones.
    • Currently almost any business can set up in the rural and residential zones without a resource consent as long as it is below a maximum size. In the Rural Zone this threshold is 100m2 and in residential zones it is 300m2. Above this threshold a consent is required.
    • The scale of businesses that can currently set up in residential areas means that they can potentially adversely affect the look and feel of the residential areas.