The Matapihi Landuse Plan is a planning response from Council after working with the community of Matapihi. The Plan considers local community aspirations and values in the context of achieving a long term sustainable environment under the Resource Management Act.
This Plan ensures Council meets its statutory responsibilities under the Local Government Act 2002 and the Resource Management Act 1991 while establishing a way for more new housing to be built within Matapihi without compromising the rural character of the peninsula.
Two key messages that the Matapihi community gave Council through various hui and workshops through the development of the Matapihi Landuse Plan were:
- The rules that govern new housing options at Matapihi are too constraining.
- Matapihi must keep its rural character.
How did we address both of these?
Council, in working with the community developed an Options Report which suggested seven models for how these two key messages could be met. The Matapihi Landuse Pan: Options Report was notified to the public following hui and workshops. It was identified that there was no single best model which delivered this, and it was anticipated and shown through submissions, that the end result would be a combination of some of these models working together to achieve the overall result.
The Matapihi Landuse Plan is the outcome of that work
Through the development of this Landuse Plan concern was raised about the nature, scale and intensity of housing development driven by subdivision, hapu partitioning as well as associated population growth. Adhoc housing development and population growth is widely seen by residents to threaten their quality of life by compromising the rural character of Matapihi, adversely affecting the environment and landscape.
The Matapihi Landuse Plan has resulted in Council promoting a change to the existing District Plan through the review of the proposed Tauranga City Plan. This review has incorporated the essence of the Matapihi Landuse Plan into the proposed Tauranga City Plan so that the regulatory means of implementation are put in place. This planning change has now been undertaken and are deemed operative.
Last Reviewed: 12/04/2012