The South Waikato District Plan became operative in June 1998 and accordingly the ten-yearly review commenced at the end of 2008.  To date, preliminary work has been undertaken mainly focused on reviewing the Operative District Plan to examine the effectiveness of it.  Landscape management is one of the key areas identified for improvement.
 

The Isthmus Group has been engaged by Council to undertake a district-wide landscape study.  The necessary fieldwork has now been completed, and a draft landscape study has been considered by the District Plan Review Steering Group.    The next step is for Council to decide what actions the new District Plan should propose in order to protect the identified landscapes from inappropriate subdivision, use and development.  To this end the outcomes of the study will soon be discussed with landowners and key stakeholders, and will then form part of one of the issues papers prepared in early 2010.  The outcomes of discussions on the issues papers will then be used as part of formulating district plan provisions in the preparation of the ‘draft’ district plan in late 2010.