Plan Changes

Overview

Most changes to the District Plan require a plan change process under the RMA which involves public or limited notification of the proposal. Plan changes can be initiated by the Council, or by a private organisation or individual. Changes not initiated by the Council are called private plan change requests. The costs of a private plan change are generally borne by the applicant.

What can be changed?

Plan changes can address a wide range of matters, including:

• Rezoning land (e.g. from rural zone to residential zone)
• Amending or introducing new rules
• Adding important features, buildings or areas to a schedule so they have the appropriate protections (e.g. historic heritage buildings or wāhi tapu)
• Giving effect to national or regional direction

Plan changes are different to resource consent applications as they seek to change the District Plan itself. Usually, plan changes are required to enable or disable an activity that conflicts with the plan’s provisions. On the other hand, resource consent applications are requests for Council approval to carry out an activity that is not permitted by the existing rules in the plan.

Plan change processes

There are two main plan change processes: 

• The standard process under Schedule 1 of the RMA – depending on the extent of the effects of the plan change, it will either be publicly notified or notified to a limited number of people (affected parties), for submissions on the proposal.
• The streamlined process under Part 5 of Schedule 1 of the RMA – where the Council makes a request to the Minister of the Environment to expedite a plan change request for a matter listed in section 80C(2) of the RMA, which:
  • is required to meet a significant community need
  • is urgent 
  • will implement national direction.

Follow the links for more information on plan change processes. 

 

Plan changes 

Council initiated plan changes 

In August 2025, the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act 2025 came into force, introducing a requirement for councils to stop work on plan reviews and council initiated plan changes. 

Councils may seek an exemption from the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform up until 31 December 2027. Exemptions must meet the specified criteria. See here for more information about ‘Plan Stop’.

Private plan change requests are not affected by this requirement. 

There are no current Council initiated plan changes.

Private plan changes

A request for a private plan change must be made in writing to the Council. Applicants are welcome to arrange a pre-application meeting with Council staff to discuss the request.

For fees and charges for private plan changes, see here. 

The following private plan change requests have been lodged with the Council.