Key draft changes for the future District Plan
The Council’s District Plan Committee has endorsed the following draft changes for further development, which we’re now consulting on:
- When assessing a land use consent for a building, the Council will also have the discretion to assess the wildfire risk by examining the layout of the landscaping and the plants used (option 2H in the preferred option report).
- Development of setbacks for:
- new or replanted vegetation such as shelter belts and certain plantations, such as vineyards, woodlots and orchards which are of a certain size. Plantation forestry at least one hectare in size and which is harvested commercially is covered by the National Environmental Standards – Plantation Forestry.
- new principal buildings. This can be a dwelling as well as other buildings such as a church, school, or business. It excludes accessory buildings such as carports, farm buildings, garages, sheds, or greenhouses.
Draft setback for new or replanted vegetation
When talking about new or replanted vegetation that we’re considering introducing setbacks for, we mean vegetation over a certain size. However we’re still working through what the minimum area of vegetation should be if the wildfire setbacks are applied. Typical examples of vegetation for which setbacks are being considered include shelter belts, vineyards, woodlots, and orchards. For such vegetation we’re considering introducing a setback of 30 metres from neighbouring principal buildings. There would be no restriction on the placement of vegetation on a person’s own property in relation to their own principal building (option 2B and 2F in the preferred option report).
All new principal buildings would be set back 30 metres from existing vegetation on the neighbouring property, such as shelter belts, vineyards, woodlots and orchards (option 2A in the preferred option report). This setback would be consistent with the Fire and Emergency New Zealand guidance.
With the introduction of the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF) on 1 May 2018, restrictions on the location of new plantation forestry in relation to neighbouring dwellings have come into effect. This national regulation is mandatory and not open for consultation. The new standards require a new plantation forestry more than one hectare in size and planted for commercial harvesting to be set back by 40 metres from a neighbouring dwelling:
The setback for a new dwelling from an existing plantation forestry as defined by NES-PF is 40 metres:
