'Special' Dunedin seen in new plan

Paul Orders
Paul Orders
Dunedin's potential to become a global leader as a great small city could be unlocked by an ambitious piece of paperwork.

That was the message from Dunedin City Council chief executive Paul Orders as he and Mayor Dave Cull presented the council's draft spatial plan to about 100 people at a public forum in the Forsyth Barr Stadium last night.

The draft is aimed at providing a planning framework to guide the city's development over the next 30 years.

Mr Orders told the audience cities were fundamental generators of cultural opportunities and economic prosperity, but the focus should not just be on global centres like London, Paris or Los Angeles.

There were also numerous examples of smaller cities - such as Halifax, in Nova Scotia, Canada - that played niche roles on the international stage but achieved "special things" far beyond the influence suggested by their populations, he said.

"Coming to Dunedin, my take on this is Dunedin is every bit as special as those cities that are doing some of those great things elsewhere in the world."

The aim of the spatial plan was to provide an organised planning framework that helped harness the city's potential, with the council working in partnership with the wider community, he said.

The council's 114-page draft spatial plan was unveiled to media last month. It recommends a "distributed development" model restricting most development to land already zoned urban, coupled with some careful expansion of outlying townships.

The plan could lead to rezoning and changes to district plan rules, and also aimed to help plan for an ageing population, demand for housing, rising oil prices, global warming and new medical and engineering business clusters in Dunedin.

Mr Cull told last night's gathering the aim was to identify how the community wanted its city to look 30 years from now, and then test future proposed projects or developments against the plan.

The draft plan had been shaped by 4000 suggestions through the Your City Our Future consultation process, and would eventually be implemented through changes to the council's district plan. Public consultation opened last week and will continue until November 17.

 

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