DRAFT CONTENTS FOR SHAPING STH WAIKATO REVIEW NEWSLETTER

Highlights to Date

• EMS from Hamilton employed to help Council develop new Plan (Craig Sharman and Murray Kivell)
• Intensive workshops with Council planners and other Council staff to identify issues Plan will need to tackle, and which parts of the existing Plan work well and which don’t.  Intention is to only “fix what is broken”.
• Six main issues identified, namely:
• The enhancement and consolidation of the district’s urban areas;
• Enhancing the economic performance of the district, including managing key industrial sites and corridors;
• Identification of the significant landscape and natural areas in the district and consideration of how they are to be protected and managed;
• Values of significance to iwi and consideration of how these are managed;
• Climate change, potential for new renewable energy generation, and energy use;
• Water quality and rural land use intensification.
• Have hired Isthmus Group and Wildland Consultants to report respectively on what landscapes in the SW are outstanding, and where the most significant natural areas are.  They have started work on these projects.
• Discussions with adjoining Councils to identify opportunities to work together.
• Have started meeting with local stakeholders to identify their concerns and hear their views on what the new Plan should contain and do.

Next Steps

• Continue meetings with stakeholders, including corporates.
• Produce two issues papers on improving the District’s urban areas and enhancing the District’s economic performance.
• Other background studies, eg appropriate noise standards.
• Align our proposals with RMA amendments, Regional Policy Statement and National Policies and Standards.
• Draft District Plan for informal feedback March 2011.
• Proposed District Plan for formal RMA submissions and hearings, notified April 2012.