What is the District Plan?

An overview of the District Plan

The Resource Management Act 1991 requires councils to prepare a District Plan.

The District Plan is the main document that sets the framework for managing land use and development within our city. It contains objectives, policies and rules to address resource management issues such as the effects of land use and subdivision, noise and traffic.

The rules of the District Plan set out what activities you can do as of right (permitted activities) and what activities you'll need resource consent for. These rules cover things like residential development, subdivision of land, the height and location of buildings, commercial and industrial developments, heritage and noise.

The District Plan is subject to ongoing monitoring and review and is changed when necessary. Please take care to check if the land, locality or rule you are concerned with is subject to any form of change by checking out the proposed and operative District Plan changes.

How is the District Plan organised?

To find out what provisions apply to a property or area, you can browse our District Plan by chapter. You can also find the property or area that you're interested in within our District Plan maps. Remember to use these maps in conjunction with the objectives, policies and rules set down in the chapters of the District Plan.

View the zoning maps from the District Plan
Browse by chapters of the District Plan

Related documents

The District Plan is designed to align with other strategic policy documents agreed on and adopted by Council. Here are our background reports and strategic policy documents that guide and influence the District Plan.

Vision documents

Vision CBD 2030 (PDF 2.1 Mb)
Petone Vision (PDF 995 kb)

Discussion documents

Petone discussion document (PDF 965 kb)
CBD Discussion document  (PDF 2 Mb)

District Plan resources

District Plan information

Private plan changes (Quality Planning)
More information about designations (Ministry for the Environment)

Submissions and hearings information

Making a submission on a plan change (Ministry for the Environment)
Appearing at a plan change hearing (Ministry for the Environment)

Resource Management Act information

An Everyday Guide to the Resource Management Act (Ministry for the Environment)
Resource Management Amendment Act 2009 Fact Sheets (Ministry for the Environment)
Relationship between the Local Government Act and the RMA (Quality Planning)

Other relevant projects

Read more about our strategic approach to residential growth.