Gruelling Meeting Begins On New West Coast Plan

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 5:16 pm
Article: Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter

West Coast mayors, chairs, councilllors and iwi leaders have embarked on a gruelling five-day meeting in Greymouth to scrutinise the massive document set to become the region’s planning Bible: Te Tai o Poutini Plan (TTPP). 

The meeting is the culmination of five years of work to update the Coast’s three District Plans and roll them into one, a project ordered by the Government back in 2018. 

The rules and policies, recommended by the independent Commissioners who heard thousands of public submissions, cover everything from building zones to mineral extraction, natural hazards and sites of significance to Māori. 

The TTPP committee has three options: adopt the rules in full; adopt some and reject others or reject the document entirely. 

The last two options would inevitably mean court challenges, and re-hearings and could drag out the process for years, while councils and Coast developers wait for the rezoning rules that will open up new areas for housing. 

The meeting began with a protest from Ngāti Māhaki leader Paul Madgwick, who said he disagreed with the final stage of the TTPP being “rushed through” before the council elections next month. 

The amount of paperwork to be read and dealt with in a short time was “unbelievable”, and there were numerous errors in the sections involving mana whenua, he said. 

Ngati Waewae Chair Francois Tumahai also objected to the late reports, calling them “ridiculous”. Westland mayor Helen Lash agreed, saying some of the reports had come in very late in the day. 

“For a job as important as this, it’s not best practice.” 

But the committee agreed to accept the late reports, and senior planner Lois Easton began a lengthy summary of the Plan’s 26 topics – a process that would take two days, she said. 

Overall, the Plan had been simplified where possible and policy was designed to be more ‘enabling'. 

It aimed to strengthen the rules on ‘reverse sensitivity’ when industrial, farming and mining operations were adversely impacted by complaints from new residential neighbours. 

“There was strong representation from submitters through the hearings that these were insufficient.”

‘”Both the mineral extraction and indigenous vegetation clearance rules were among the most enabling in the country.” 

The Commissioners had made recommendations that increase the stringency of regulation for mineral extraction, she reported. 

But they retained a high degree of enablement in particular in the Mineral Extraction and Buller Coalfield Zones. 

They recommended more stringent rules on indigenous vegetation clearance, still requiring Coast councils to identify Significant Natural Areas (SNAs). 

But the recommended provisions were still among the most permissive in the country, Ms Easton reported. 

The committee is expected to discuss the chapter involving Significant Natural Areas this afternoon [Thursday]. 

Regional Council chair Peter Haddock told LDR delaying decisions on the Plan until after the elections, as Mr Madgwick suggested, would be a mistake. 

“My personal view is, this has to be done – finished by January, the Government has instructed us. Only a few of us are guaranteed to be still members after the elections.” 

It would take a month of reading for any new members coming onto the committee to come to grips with the massive Plan, Mr Haddock said. 

“We’ve had people round this table who’ve lived and breathed the TTPP - there’s still people out there who think Tai Poutini Plan is something to do with the Polytech.” 

The five-day meeting ends next Wednesday and is being live-streamed on the West Coast Regional Council’s You Tube channel. 

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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