Council maps Unitary Plan process

The Rodney Local Board has appointed Wellsford member James Rolfe as its primary representative on an Auckland Unitary Plan planning forum.

Auckland Council will be drafting the far-reaching plan over the next 18 months. Its first milestone will be December this year when it hopes to have completed the scoping stage, which involves reviewing current resource management plans and identifying the issues and options for addressing these issues.

The Unitary Plan will potentially combine seven district plans (from the seven legacy councils) as well as regional plans covering coastal; air, land and water; farm dairy discharges; and sediment control.

Council says the combination of these documents presents an opportunity to reduce the complexity of the planning process and make it more efficient; both for Council and for plan users.

It will ultimately be a comprehensive resource management plan containing a set of objectives, policies and controls that will manage all activities and development in the Auckland region for the next 15 to 20 years. Once completed, it will be the most comprehensive RMA plan in NZ.