A public meeting will be held on Thursday, 7 September, at the Trafalgar Centre northern extension to discuss Plan Change 29, Nelson Mayor Nick Smith has announced.

“I know there are many concerns and questions about Plan Change 29 and I have received a lot of requests for a public meeting. These proposed changes to our planning rules will shape the future of Nelson for decades and we want to get the detail right. We also want to have as much community engagement as possible.”

Council is proposing with Plan Change 29 significant changes to the Nelson Resource Management Plan to allow greater intensity of housing and better rules for managing storm and seismic risks. The housing changes are being made in response to an increasing population, insufficient housing in the region, and to fulfil Council’s obligations under Government’s National Policy Statement for Urban Development 2020.

“The feedback we received at the market on Saturday was that Nelsonians are feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of changes, the scale of change and the huge amount of documentation,” Mayor Nick says.

“The public meeting is an opportunity for people to better understand Plan Change 29, to ask questions on the changes and process and to comment on them.

“We recognise that these are big changes for our community. We want to provide every possible opportunity for people to understand the changes and to have input.”

The public meeting is scheduled to run from 7pm to 9pm with Council staff, Mayor and Councillors in attendance.

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