Whakamahere Whakatū Nelson Plan

The operative Nelson Regional Policy Statement and Nelson Resource Management Plan were developed in the 1990s, and the Nelson Air Quality Plan became operative in 2008. While these plans have been subject to some changes, they have not undergone a full review. In 2013, the council resolved to embark on a full review to produce the Second Generation Plan the Whakamahere Whakatū Nelson Plan, an entirely new plan, with a new format, new zones, objectives, and policies, and many changes to the rules.

The Nelson plan was developed between 2013 and 2021 and was anticipated to be publicly notified in early 2022. Nelson City Council decided to pause the release of the Plan primarily due to the risk that anticipated Resource Management reforms and new legislation will require significant changes to resource management plans in local government, Council anticipates that much of the work, such as natural hazard mapping and heritage assessments that went into developing the draft Whakamahere Whakatū Nelson Plan, will be readily transferrable to plans created under the replacement legislation.

In the interim, Council has been focused on progressing with a housing Plan Change to enable more housing in existing urban areas of Nelson and implement the intensification requirements (Policy 5) of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 (NPSUD).  The plan change will also improve the community’s resilience to natural hazards and update heritage provisions. Draft provisions are based on content developed through Draft Whakamahere Whakatū Nelson Plan processes and the Nelson Tasman Future Development Strategy 2022 – 2052 (FDS) directions for urban intensification. The plan change proposes updates to existing provisions of the operative Nelson Resource Management Plan (NRMP) and was notified on 11 August 2023. Learn more at shape.nelson.govt.nz/plan-change-29