Ashburton District Council has released draft concept plans for the future development of some Ashburton Small Villages. Once finalised, the plans will become a blueprint for the development of those villages in the future. The Development Plans will become policy guides for how growth could best be managed in the future and will feed into the statutory planning process of the District Plan Review.

Principles of Development Planning
 
The concept plans provide for the development of the small villages of the Ashburton District. The concept plans provide for reasonable growth & development issues that could occur in the 20 year future.

Issues such as compact village layout, encouragement of walking / cycling links within the villages and sound environmental planning are incorporated into the concepts to ensure a quality environment. This will involve new development being adequately serviced with necessary infrastructure, such as water and sewage disposal, road & walking /cycling links for instance.

Ensuring that our small villages continue to develop as a good place to live, is a key motivation for the Council involvement in future planning, while providing for future growth such as commercial development in our small villages. In some cases, establishing controls on appearance of built development may be appropriate.

Where to From Here....

The Council’s Environmental Services Committee will make policy decisions on this project.

Any proposals requiring a change to the Council’s District Plan would go through a statutory consultation process involving public notification and consultation with affected parties before proposals could be included in the District Plan. 

For further information on the development plan project please contact: 
 
Peter Kloosterman
Senior District Planner
Ashburton District Council
PO Box 94
Ashburton 7740
Telephone: 03 307 7700
Facsimile: 03 308 1836
peterk@adc.govt.nz