District Plan Review

We’re updating the District Plan to ensure it enables economic and residential growth, while protecting the things that make Waimakariri special.

The District Plan sets rules for sustainably managing how people use, subdivide and develop land, what and where they can build and what kind of activities they can undertake. The Plan also controls any adverse effects an activity could have on the neighbourhood and protects the uniqueness of our district by looking after our heritage, cultural values, outstanding landscapes and coastal environment.

The Council has now completed the hearings process and on 24 June 2025 made decisions on the proposed District Plan, Variation 2 (Financial Contributions) and Variation 1 (Medium Density Residential Standards).

The decisions version of the District Plan can be accessed here.

The Panel Recommendations can be found below under the section 'Accepted Recommend'.

The Extraordinary Council Meeting recording adopting the Panel’s recommendations.

The Councils Formal Notice can be found here. This notice also provides information on the appeals process.

A list of minor corrections and amendments can be found here.

Council has prepared an Eplan user guide which can be found here.

Please click  here for a list of FAQs in relation to the next steps


Indicative timeframes:

An indicative timeframe for next steps is set out below.  Please note there will be a number of factors that may alter these timeframes including Council elections, the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes Amendment Bill), and other RMA reforms proposed by central government.

Council Deliberations on the PDP, Variation 1 and 2, Designations, Intensified Streamlined Planning Process (MDRS)

24 June 2025

Public notification of the Decisions of Council on the PDP, Variation 1 and 2, Designations, Intensified Streamlined Planning Process (MDRS)

14 July 2025

Appeal Period Ends. Dates for any appeals will be set by the Environment Court

22 August 2025

Council will prepare an appeals version of the plan, which will identify which provisions are subject to appeal

October – December 2025

Next steps once the hearings are concluded:  

  1. A 30 day appeal period opens for submitters to appeal the Council’s decision to the Environment Court
  2. Appeals heard at the Environment Court
  3. Once all appeals are resolved the plan becomes fully operative

The panel's recommendations will go to the Council who will vote to accept, accept in part or reject the panel's recommendations.

Should the Council vote to accept the panel's recommendations, the Council will then adopt these recommendations as the Council’s decision on the Proposed District Plan, Variation 1 and 2.

Council Accepted Panel Report Number

Report Name

Links to Hearing Stream

S42A Reports & Evidence

Report 1

Overview

HS1 & 2, HS4, HS5

& 12E (B)

Report 2

Strategic Directions

HS1 & 2

Report 3

Urban Form & Development

HS1 & 2

Report 4

Sites of Areas of Significance to Māori

HS2

Report 5

Hazardous Substances

HS3

Report 6

Contaminated Land

HS3

Report 7

Natural Hazards

HS3

Report 8

Coastal Environment

HS4

Report 9

Natural Character of Freshwater Bodies

HS4

Report 10

Natural Features and Landscapes

HS4

Report 11

Activities on the Surface of Water

HS4

Report 12

Earthworks

HS5

Report 13

Noise

HS5

Report 14

Signs

HS5

Report 15

Historic Heritage

HS5

Report 16

Notable Trees

HS5

Report 17

Energy & Infrastructure

HS5

Report 18

Transport

HS5

Report 19

Rural

HS6

Report 20

Open Space and Recreation Zones

HS6

Report 21

Residential Zones

HS7A

Report 22

Variation 1 (excluding Airport Matters and Ōhoka rezoning)

HS7B & 12E (B)

Report 23

Variation 2

Financial Contributions

HS7A

Report 24

Ecosystems and Indigenous Biodiversity

HS7A

Report 25

Subdivision

HS8

Report 26

Industrial Zones

HS9A

Report 27

Commercial and Mixed Use Zones

HS9

Report 28

Special Purpose Zones

HS10

Report 29

Christchurch International Airport Ltd: Noise Contour and Bird Strike – PDP and Variation 1

HS10A

Report 30

Designations (Waimakariri District Council)

HS11

Report 31

Designations (other than Waimakariri District Council)

HS11A

Report 32

Temporary activities

HS11A

Report 33

Commercial and Industrial Zones, Oxford, Pegasus Special Resort Zone

HS12A

Report 34

Large Lot Residential Zones

HS12C

Report 35

Ōhoka PDP and Variation 1

HS12D

Report 36

Rezoning Requests – Residential Zones

HS12E

Report 37

Rezoning - Rangiora Airfield

HS12F

If submitters do not agree with the Council's decision on the Proposed District Plan or Variation 2 and seek a different outcome, they have 30 working days to lodge an appeal to the Environment Court Resource Management (Forms, Fees, and Procedure Regulations 2003) at which stage the process moves out of Council's administration to the Environment Court.

There is no right to appeal to the Environment Court on Variation 1, but decisions may be appealed to the High Court on points of law.


Partially Operative Waimakariri District Plan and appeals

The parts of the Proposed Plan, Variation 1 and 2 that are NOT appealed will be treated as operative.

Plan provisions (objectives, policies, rules and other methods) that are appealed to the Environment Court do not become operative until the outcome of the appeals for those provisions are resolved.

Once all the appeals on the Partially Operative Waimakariri District Plan have been worked through, the Plan will be made fully operative.  The duration of this process will depend on the number of and complexity of appeals.


Supporting Documents

View S32 Reports, Designations, Notable Trees, Historic Heritage Listings and Submissions relating to the Proposed District Plan.


Submissions

The formal submission period for the Proposed Waimakariri District Plan closed on 26 November 2021 and the Summary of  submissions can be viewed here.

Requests for individual submissions can be made to developmentplanning@wmk.govt.nz.

Further Submissions

Further submissions were an opportunity for people who represent a relevant aspect of the public interest, or have an interest greater than the general public, to make a further submission on an original submission.

The further submission period for the Proposed Waimakariri District Plan has closed. The Further Submission database is available to download.

The Council will hold public hearings on the submissions received beginning in mid-2023 and running until late-2024. Following the hearings we will give notice of the Commissioner’s decisions on the Proposed District Plan, Variation 1 and Variation 2 (and matters raised in submissions, including reasons for accepting or rejecting submissions).

After the close of the further submission consultation on the Waimakariri District Plan review on 21 November 2022, the Council has identified several submission points either incorrectly summarised or missed within the original summary of submissions. The Council has corrected these affected submission points.

Variation 1 and Variation 2

In December 2021, the government introduced the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (Amendment Act) to amend aspects of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).

The Amendment Act requires Councils to introduce Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) into the Proposed District Plan. It also requires residential areas in the affected townships to be rezoned Medium Density Residential Zone and adopt the MDRS. We've done this by notifying Variation 1 to the Proposed District Plan. Submissions closed on 9 September 2022.

Variation 2 is a variation to the Proposed District Plan in respect to financial contributions. Financial contributions may be collected on resource consents or permitted activities to fund upgrades to infrastructure, such as roading and the supply of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater, or to offset adverse effects on the environment. Submissions on Variation 2 closed on 9 September 2022.

Summary of Submissions on Variation 1 and 2 can be found under Supporting Documents.



View the Partially Operative District Plan

The best way to view the Partially Operative District Plan is online via the ePlan.


Check ePlan version - you may not be looking at the latest version.

We are aware that the ePlan is not always loading to the decisions version of the plan.

To ensure you are viewing the Partially Operative Waimakariri District Plan, please make sure you have the latest version selected.

To do this, when viewing the ePlan text, select the change button on the panel on the left side of the plan. It is located under the revision date, above the plan chapters.

Select 'Partially Operative Waimakariri District Plan (Decisions Version)'.


View the how to guide for the Partially Operative Waimakariri District Plan.

Following the notification of the Proposed District Plan on 18 September 2021 and the subsequent reviewing of submissions, minor errors have been found in the Proposed Plan. The Council is able to correct such errors in the Proposed Plan without public consultation under clause16(2) of the Resource Management Act 1991. To find out more about these minor errors, please read the Council memo.


Public Notice - District Plan Decision Notification
Download PDF File (70.8 KB)
Public Notice - District Plan Review
Download PDF File (514.4 KB)
Public Notice - Proposed District Plan, Variation 1 & Variation 2 Further Submissions
Download PDF File (826.3 KB)
Last reviewed date: 15 Jul 2025