As I understand from Council staff, the developer has paused their consent request, and at this stage it is not progressing. This is obviously not the final decision and they could still choose to change it, cancel it, or try and progress. It is, however, a good sign, and I hope one that people are engaging in meaningful discussion to find the right outcome.

Under the legislation from the last Government, it is possible to develop areas like this to some extent without councils stopping it locally, and we are addressing this issue in our re-write of the RMA (into select committee before Christmas). This will bring back some local control for councils, provided they meet the requirements of growth across the entire council area. We have thousands of new sections being developed, so in this case local council would have more control under our plan.

However, should the developer choose to continue their current course of action, the council do have options around different levels of notification of any consent, and I would expect if a proposal didn’t meet the requirements of existing legislation, then the council would follow the rules in terms of levels of notification.

So there are a few more steps and while I acknowledge I can’t change the rules for this possible development, we are fixing the broader issue for the future so we can embrace the necessary housing growth while still provide for the character of local communities.

Kind regards, 

Tim