Key draft changes for the future District Plan

The Council’s District Plan Committee has recently endorsed the following draft changes for addressing identified issues for further development, which we’re now consulting on:

• Update existing rules to remove areas of overlap and duplication with the regional council’s functions, and to tighten and focus rules so that they relate more specifically to the district council’s functions.
• Develop new rules for specific water issues in Selwyn district that are considered to be of sufficient significance. For example, develop rules to support the restoration of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere such as supporting the re-establishment of aquatic plants and lake margin wetlands, and managing drainage or reclamation in accordance with the National Water Conservation Order for the lake.
• Review the current list of waterbodies to which esplanade reserves and esplanade strips (see below what this means) apply when subdividing land next to them. The review is to confirm or alter the purpose, such as access or conservation, of each of the waterbodies, the type of protection ie a reserve owned by the Council or a strip that remains in private ownership, subject to easements, and width appropriate for each identified location.
• Clearly identify matters that are primarily the responsibility of the regional council. For example, management of the effects of land use on water quality, management of activities in the beds of lakes and rivers.
  

(Esplanade reserves, esplanade strips and access strips are statutory mechanisms to protect riparian and coastal margins. Riparian margins are strips of land identified along the edges of natural watercourses including streams, lakes and wetlands which need to be made available when land is subdivided. The protection of these margins helps to conserve environmental values and provides opportunities for public access and recreational use, as provided for in the Resource Management Act.)