An ongoing update to Dunedin’s district plan is unlikely to be caught up in the government’s plan-stop policy, the council says.
On Wednesday, Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop announced the government would stop "unnecessary" plan changes — suspending requirements for councils to review plans or notify new plan changes, unless they meet exemption criteria.
In response to questions from the Otago Daily Times, Mr Bishop’s office said the plan-stop policy legislation was expected to be enacted next month.
"Any proposed plans that have a hearing date scheduled within five days of enactment or have already commenced or concluded hearings will continue."
Hearings for the second stage of Dunedin City Council’s plan change 1 were set down for August 18 and would cover proposed changes to, for example, significant trees, acoustic insulation requirements and stormwater setbacks.
Council city development manager Dr Anna Johnson said no impact was expected on the hearings.
"The fact sheet provided as part of the government’s announcement indicated proposed plan change processes that have already commenced hearings won’t be stopped," she said.
"Plan change 1 is a single plan change broken into two hearings, with one hearing already completed.
"For this reason, our view is the hearing stage has already commenced and doesn’t need to be stopped, but we’ll review this once the legislation is available."
