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The District Plan - What is it?
The District Plan is the primary document that manages land use and development within the district. It contains rules that may affect you if you are planning a new structure, activity or subdivision.
The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) requires district and city councils to prepare plans for their district. Each plan describes the district’s significant resource management issues and sets out the proposed objectives, policies and methods to address these issues. It is a tool with which the Council aims to achieve sustainable development within the district.
The District Plan works in with various plans, laws, policies and standards on a regional and national level. District plans must not be inconsistent with national or regional policy statements or regional plans. District and City Councils must also have regard to any planning documents prepared by Iwi Authorities, for example, Iwi Management Plans.
The plan also specifies the information that must be submitted with resource consent applications.
Thames-Coromandel District Council has prepared a District Plan under the RMA.
The Proposed Thames-Coromandel District Plan was publicly notified on 22 March 1997 and submissions were called for. The Council subsequently received over 5,000 submissions and further submissions from 1,600 submitters. Decisions on submissions were released in October 1998 and Council released the “Proposed District Plan: Decisions Version” in September 1999.
Following release of Council decisions on submissions 51 appeals were lodged with the Environment Court. All but two of those appeals have now been dealt with. The appeals which remain unresolved are those by:
Where there is an outstanding appeal point, an annotation has been made to the right-hand side of the District Plan text and maps have also been annotated. If you are using the District Plan and are affected by a site or provision that is subject to appeal then you should contact the Duty Planner at Council.
At its meeting of 24 July 2007 the Thames-Coromandel District Council resolved to declare the Thames-Coromandel District Plan ‘Operative in Part’ pursuant to clause 17(2) of the 1st Schedule of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The “Operative in Part” version of the Thames-Coromandel District Plan, with the Council seal affixed, incorporates all Resource Management Act 1991 clause 16 amendments approved by Council and all amendments made to the Plan as a result of variations and Environment Court consent orders (up to 24 July 2007).
The District Plan contains five separate documents which should be read as a whole to understand the inter-relationship between the different objectives, polices and rules.
Volume One forms the main text of the Plan incorporating the objectives, policies, rules and definitions. This is the most commonly used part of the Plan. This part of the plan can be viewed on this website.
Volume Two contains the Appendices. These include a list of designated sites and a number of management plans.
Volume Three contains the Thames Heritage Register.
Volume Four contains the Coromandel Heritage Register.
All of these sections are to be read in conjunction with the Planning Maps which visually depict the zoning, policy areas, structure plans or designations referred to in the District Plan.
The TCDC District Plan is an activity based plan rather than a zone based plan. This means that resource management issues are approached from the perspective of assessing the proposed activity and its resulting effects, as opposed to stipulating zones and establishing what can happen within them.
When using the plan you will need to:
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Establish the correct definition of the activity that you wish to carry out. Definitions are contained in Section 9 of the plan.
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Find the relevant planning map in order to establish what zoning and policy area applies to your location.
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Find the section on the relevant activity grouping in order to establish whether the proposed activity is permitted in the zone applying to your property. (Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Plan).
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Make sure that you have read all relevant sections. Often substantial cross-referencing between several sections is required.
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Establish the overall activity status of your proposal. If your proposal is not a permitted activity, you will be required to obtain a resource consent to proceed with you proposal.
In regards to proposed plan changes, submissions on notified plan changes and specific District Plan interpretation information, please contact Policy and Planning staff.
If you require assistance with the interpretation of planning rules as they apply to your proposed activity please contact Customer Services .
Links to relevant Ministry for the Environment Publications:
Your Guide to the Resource Management Act: An essential reference for people affected by or interested in the RMA
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/rma/rma-guide-jul04/html/index.html
An Overview of the Resource Management Act (From An Everyday Guide to the RMA Series)
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/rma/rma-guide-jul04/index.html
Thinking about buying a property?
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/rma/property-buying-jun01/html/index.html
The District Plan contains five separate documents which should be read as a whole to understand the inter-relationship between different sets of objectives, polices and rules.
Go to - Volume One
Go to - Volume Two
Go to - Planning Maps
Go to - Thames Heritage Register
Go to - Coromandel Heritage Register Go to - Coromandel Heritage Register
Now Available online!
NB: Many of the Heritage Register Files are large (2MB+) as they contain photographs. If you are not able to download the files you would like to view, please contact Customer Services (07 868 0200)
For more information about the District Plan, please contact our Customer Services team.