The District Plan

Introduction

The District Plan is a statutory document required under part 5 (sections 72-77) of the Resource Management Act 1991 (the Act). The Plan sets out the framework of issues, objectives, policies and rules to manage the effects of land use and development*, and to protect the natural and physical resources of the Rangitikei District.

The Minister of Conservation, the Minister for the Environment, the Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council (Horizons), and the Hawkes Bay Regional Council also have to prepare and implement policy statements, plans and environmental standards (regulations) to meet their prescribed resource management functions under the Act. The Department of Conservation, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and local iwi also contribute to the management of resources in the District in their specialist areas.

In addition to these planning and policy instruments, there is a Water Conservation Order in force for the Rangitikei River and its tributaries. Water Conservation Orders (WCOs) are a means of conferring status to a river for its outstanding amenity or intrinsic values. In practice this means no dams and no major abstractions for irrigation, and stringent controls on any alteration to the river bed and parts of the catchment.

Each of the three Councils (Rangitikei, Horizons, Hawkes Bay) are consent authorities for the purposes of the Act, and have different areas of interest in considering and assessing consents. A permitted activity under this Plan may require a consent from the Regional Council, and would be conditional on that approval before the activity can be undertaken.

Read the full introduction in the PDF

Plan Structure

The Plan is set out in four parts:

Part A: Issues, objectives and policies

Part A outlines the significant resource management issues for the District, and strategies for responding to these issues.

Part B: Rules

Part B contains the activity standards and rules that must be met for permitted activities, and the assessment criteria relating to controlled, restricted discretionary, discretionary, and non-complying status activities. The Plan does not contain prohibited activities.

Part C: Schedules

Part C contains lists of significant and heritage sites, designations, hazardous substances information and definitions.

Part D: Planning and Hazard Maps

Part D contains a set of planning maps and a set of hazard maps for all areas within the District.

Further Natural Hazard Information

Regional scale information on earthquake (including liquefaction) and volcanoes, is provided in the document below. This information is at a regional-scale and should not be used at an individual property level. It is important that users of this information read and understand the context of this information and that it is used only in that context.

Horizons Regional Council also holds regional-scale information on natural hazards, which is freely available upon request.

Further Natural Hazard Information - PDF 12338MB

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