PRESS RELEASE
Orewa, 5th December 2006.
Available for immediate publication

Proposed District Plan Decisions Released

The Chairman of the Rodney District Council’s District Plan Hearings Committee, Councillor Grahame Powell, says he is delighted that the Council is already releasing the decision reports on submissions to the rural section of the Proposed Plan.

The first decisions went out to submitters on 30 November and the balance will go out during the following couple of weeks.

Councillor Powell says the rural section was the single biggest group of decisions released. It covered rural issues, objectives, policies, the land use and subdivision rules and the requests for rezoning particular areas of land.

“It is also planned to release the decisions on submissions to the residential and business chapters of the Proposed Plan as well as the other remaining decisions on a range of topics before Christmas,” said Councillor Powell.

Councillor Powell also indicated that at the same time as the residential decisions are released, a Variation to the Proposed Plan would be notified to introduce design rules for high density residential development which will assist in assessing the design aspects of such developments.љ

Due to the volume of decisions currently being released and the close proximity to Christmas, the appeal period for the decisions released from 30 November until the end of 2006 has been extended to expire on 28 February 2007. This has been done with the agreement of the Environment Court, said Councillor Powell.

“This should help submitters and give them time to make considered decisions on whether or not to lodge appeals to the Environment Court rather than trying to rush a decision before Christmas and lodging appeals just to keep their options open.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media