A new Nelson Tasman Future Development Strategy (FDS) will look at how Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council can help meet housing and commercial property demand over the next 30 years.

Both Councils committed to building on the current 2019 FDS, at a joint committee meeting held on 6 July, 2021.

Future development strategies are based on requirements set out by central government in its National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS UD), the latest of which came into effect in 2020.

The NPS UD sets out the Government’s guidelines and rules for development in cities across New Zealand. The 2020 version includes new rules that match many of the two council’s housing and sustainability goals.

The 2019 FDS will form a starting point for the draft, but all the sites currently identified for future growth will need to be reassessed under the new requirements of the NPS UD. Both councils will now work on the strategy with the aim of releasing it to the public for consultation in 2022.

The new strategy will also help inform the 2024 Long Term Plan of both councils.

Tasman District Council Growth Coordinator Jacqui Deans said the objective was to create a new strategy consistent with any new requirements under the NPS UD.

“We’ve got a fast-growing district, and so we need to stay on top of things - actively monitoring this growth to keep up with ongoing demands is key.”

Having a solid, up to date document would also put councils in a good place to bid for central government funding, she said.

Deans said Tasman’s Long Term Plan 2021-2031 showed how TDC was following through with planning for expected growth.

Combined infrastructure investment of more than $300 million in Tasman’s recently adopted 10 Year Plan included some of the future development sites from the last strategy period, which offered a starting point for the upcoming strategy.

Nelson City Council’s Group Manager Environmental Management Clare Barton said supporting growth in housing supply and intensification was a focus in Nelson's 2021/31 Long Term Plan.

“Our Long Term Plan included funding for infrastructure that would increase housing capacity. We are also in the process of applying to and assisting others to make applications to the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund where they will support an increase in housing capacity.

“New requirements set out in this NPS, especially around transport links and proximity, match our own development goals, so this is an opportunity to produce a refreshed development strategy that will inform how we will manage our city’s growth for the next 30 years.”

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