District Plan Review Timeline

The District Plan Review has undergone extensive public engagement leading up to the hearings

The Independent Hearings Panel held the final Hearing Stream 7 between Monday 13 March and Wednesday 22 March 2023, this hearing stream included submissions made on Variation 1 and Plan Change 19.
The Independent Hearings Panel is now considering all submissions and evidence as part of their deliberations. Their report is expected in the latter half of 2023.
More information, including copies and summaries of all submissions, is available on our Hearings Portal.

We had a great response to our call for submissions with 118 submissions received between 11 August and 12 September 2022.
We also received 25 further submissions between 20 October and 3 November 2023.
Submissions can be viewed on this webpage.

We notified Variation 1 and Plan Change 19 on 11 August 2022 to meet Council’s obligations to enable housing intensification under the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act. (see official public notice).
View Variation 1 and Plan Change 19 and make a submission. Submissions must be received by 5pm Monday 12 September 2022.
Prior to notification of Variation 1, we undertook community engagement as summarised in this report: Engagement Report on Draft Variation May 2022

Hearings on the PDP commenced in late September 2021.
Our planning team have been considering all submissions received in advance of each hearing stream, and producing officers' reports with recommendations regarding the submission points made and decisions sought.
Hearings are being conducted by an independent panel of qualified commissioners, who will consider all submissions and officers' recommendations.
More information is available on our Hearings Portal.

The submissions period ran from 28 August to 20 November 2020.
We had a great response to our call for submissions with 274 submissions received, containing just over 4,000 submission points.
Summary of Decisions Requested reports were publicly notified on 13 April 2021 (see official public notice).
These reports are available on our Hearings Portal, as well as at Council reception and at all Porirua libraries.
The further submissions period ran from 13 April 2021 to 11 May 2021.
A further submission period of 10 working days was held on a small number of submission points identified in an errata (see official public notice).
We received a total of 70 further submissions.

The Proposed District Plan was publicly notified on 28 August 2020 with a call for submissions (see official public notice).
Evaluation reports were also notified in line with section 32 of the RMA: section 32 plan evaluation reports.
Under the RMA, the Council has a period of two years in which to make decisions on submissions after it is publicly notified.

Prior to notification in August 2020, the District Plan Review underwent extensive public engagement, from open public consultation campaigns to targeted consultation on specific topics.
These are outlined below:

Council has developed this Proposed District Plan in partnership with Ngāti Toa Rangatira.

Ngāti Toa have also had the opportunity to review and input into the whole plan under Clause 4A of Schedule 1 of the RMA

2015 - consultation was carried out on a number of chapters that make up the District Plan; however only some topics were covered. This was a foundation for the full District Plan Review.
2017 - the ‘Make your Mark’ campaign was developed to give a unique and engaging front to the District Plan. This included visual aids to show ways the city could grow. We attended a number of community events and asked children and young people to doodle on images of the city to get their views. See the 2017 Engagement Report.
2018 - a Draft District Plan consisting of objectives and policies was released for community feedback. We ran a series of community workshops during this period in conjunction with the Growth Strategy. See the 2018 Engagement Report.
2019 - we released a full draft District Plan for community feedback. We wanted to check in with the community to ensure we have 'hit the mark' before formal public notification of the Proposed District Plan. See the 2019 Engagement Report.

We set up several focus groups to get targetted feedback on various topics:

District Plan reference group - made up of members of the Porirua community to give feedback on resource management issues, brainstorm options to address these issues, and gain a valuable community perspective.
Youth ‘Go Deep’ group - made up of rangatahi from Porirua aged between 17 and 24 who have an active interest in the future development of the city. This group helped us understand ways in which the District Plan can enable youth to prosper in Porirua. Their feedback is summarised here.
Developers ‘Go Deep’ group - made up of small to large scale developers active in the Porirua area, and land development consultants. They gave feedback issues from their professional perspective, and discussed possible options to address these issues.

We consulted on specific topics of the District Plan due to the large number of landowners involved. See these pages for more information: ecology, landscapes & notable trees; coastal hazards & resilience; and flood modelling.

A concerted effort was made over many years to engage with as many of these landowners as possible.