Further Submissions

View the timeline here

The Proposed District Plan was notified on 28 May 2021. 

We have since then received 123 submissions, published a summary of submissions and received 29 further submissions which are all available to view on our website.

At the beginning of 2022 the District Plan Hearings Panel began to hear submissions. This was where submitters were able to present their views to the hearing panel, who will decide on what the final version of the District Plan should look like. Seven blocks of Hearings were held throughout the year, with the last block held in December 2022. All of the information about the Hearings is available on our Hearing’s Portal here.

The Hearings are currently adjourned while the Panel deliberate on all of the submissions received and evidence presented. Once their recommendations have been finalised the decisions and an updated 'decisions' version of the Proposed District Plan will be publicly notified. This is anticipated for later this year.

The ‘Summary of Submissions’ is a report summarising all of the changes to the Proposed District Plan that submitters have asked for in their original submissions (these are sometimes referred to as ‘decisions requested’).

The reports summarise everyone’s submissions so you can get an overview of what people think about the Proposed District Plan. It’s particularly useful to those people who are eligible to, and want to, make further submissions.

The Summary of Submissions can be viewed here.

The Council publicly notified the summary of submissions on Monday 11 October 2021. People and organisations (those with an interest in the Proposed Plan that is greater than that of the public in general; or those who represent a relevant aspect of the public interest) were able to make ‘further submissions’.

The further submission period was open from on Monday 11 October 2021 and closed 5pm Tuesday 9 November 2021. 

Council prepared a Summary of Submissions in a couple of formats:

-  Summary of Submissions – By Provision
(to see summarised submissions made on each Proposed Plan chapter)

- Summary of Submissions - Electronic Spreadsheet click here

(enables you to undertake your own analysis of all summarised submissions filterable by submitter and provision)

A further submission is a submission that supports or opposes someone else’s submission. It can take a position on the entire submission or just a part of a submission, such as a particular change someone has asked for.

Further submissions are made after the original submission period has closed, when everyone has had a chance to review each other’s submissions (which are summarised in the Summary of Submissions).

A further submission cannot raise a new issue – it can only support or oppose others’ submission points. A further submission cannot take a ‘neutral’ position or make a general comment on a submission point.

You can make a further submission if:

• You have an interest in the Proposed District Plan that is greater than that of the public in general; or
• You represent a relevant aspect of the public interest.

You need to make sure that you specify the submission point that your further submission relates to. This information will be available in the Summary of Submissions.

The Council publicly notified the Summary of Submissions on Monday 11 October 2021.

The further submission period was open from Monday 11 October 2021 and closed at 5pm Tuesday 9 November 2021. 

You can make a further submission if:

• You have an interest in the Proposed Plan that is greater than that of the public in general. For example, if a submission has been made to rezone land that you own.
• You represent a relevant aspect of the public interest, such as an advocacy group or other collective.

If you fit the above criteria, you can make a further submission on the matter that affects you or your group, whether or not you have made an original submission.

If you have made an original submission this will still stand, so it may not be necessary to make a further submission that reiterates your original submission.

Hearings were held in 2022 and now that the Hearings are adjourned the Hearings Panel will make recommendations to the Council who will then make decisions on the content of the District Plan. The 'Decisions Version' is expected to be available later this year.

Some rules in the Proposed District Plan had immediate legal effect when the Plan was publicly notified, in accordance with s86B Resource Management Act 1991.  These provisions relate to matters of national significance such as the protection of areas of significant indigenous vegetation or habitats of indigenous fauna, and historic heritage.  Rules with immediate legal effect are identified in the Plan with a red hammer symbol.

In addition, the following rules have had no submissions in opposition and are required to be treated as operative under s86F Resource Management Act 1991.  This means the Operative District Plan rule no longer applies. 

The remaining rules will have legal effect once a decision on submissions has been made and publicly notified. This is expected to occur later this year. There is also the ability for the Environment Court to order rules to have legal effect from a different date, but no application for such an order has been made at this stage.