Decisions on Wellington City Council’s District Plan

The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, has released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations.

Wellington notified its District Plan on 18 July 2022 and is using two different processes to make it operative, including the Intensified Streamlined Planning Process (ISPP) to incorporate the Medium Density Residential Standards and policies flowing from the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD). The rest of the District Plan is being prepared using standard processes.

The Council’s Proposed District Plan was referred to an Independent Hearings Panel which reported to the Council in February this year. The Council then rejected twenty of the Panel’s recommendations, made alternative recommendations, and referred to them to me as the final decision-maker under Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act 1991. The Minister says his decisions are final and cannot be appealed.