Plan Change 66 – Miscellaneous 3

RMA Reform will substantively change New Zealand’s planning system and will require the development of a new combined regional spatial and district plan. During the transition, the current District Plan will remain in place until about 2030 when the regional plans are complete.   

In early 2025, the council began work on Plan Change 66 – Miscellaneous 3 (PC 66), which seeks to address the ongoing issues that make the District Plan inefficient and difficult to use, leading to unintended policy outcomes during the transition period.

The council has chosen to progress technical and infrastructure changes within PC 66 rather than substantive policy or zoning consideration, which are better dealt with through the new regional plan.

In mid-2025, the Government announced a nationwide Plan Stop, requiring councils to seek formal approval from the Minister for RMA reform to proceed with plan changes.

In November 2025, the council made a formal request(PDF, 2MB) to the Minister for RMA reform for an exemption to continue with the plan change. On 5 February 2026, the council received approval for the Plan Stop exemption(PDF, 202KB).  

The proposed changes approved under the Plan Stop exemption are:

  • Removal of the requirement of the NZ firefighting water supplies code of practice 2008 (SNZ PAS 4509:2008) from the District Plan and reliance on the Building Code for fire safety regulation.
  • Make earthworks associated with the erection of retaining walls, under the supervision of an engineer, a permitted activity.
  • Updates to designations and reapplications for lapsed designations. 
  • Removal of Engineering Standards from the District Plan to make a standalone document.  
  • Updates to the Transport chapter to better align with NZTA standards.
  • Updates to the Town Centre Design Guidelines to reflect the current planning system.

The council is currently preparing the plan change for formal notification, which is expected to be considered later this year. 

Information relating to Plan Change 66 – Miscellaneous is below.

Stage one: plan stop exemption

Report to council requesting delegation of functions to Officers under Resource Management Act 1991(PDF, 80KB).   

Application to the Minister for the Plan Stop Exemption approval(PDF, 2MB)

Decision by Minister to proceed PC66(PDF, 202KB)

Stage two: formal notification

To be considered in late 2026.

Back to top