15 November 2016

Auckland Unitary Plan becomes operative

The parts of the Auckland Unitary Plan not subject to appeal will officially become operative from today.

From 15 November 2016, the operative parts of the plan will replace the old district and regional plans of Auckland’s former councils.

Celia Davison, Manager Unitary Plan, says as most of the appeals relate only to specific sites or provisions in the plan, large parts of the Regional Policy Statement, regional plan and some parts of the district plan have been made operative.

“For those parts of the plan still subject to appeal, the old rules will remain in place with the council being required to assess all resource consent applications against the relevant parts of both the old and new plans.

“Decisions will need to be made on a case-by-case basis as to how much weight can be given to the Auckland Unitary Plan versus the legacy district and regional plans,” says Ms Davison.

The plan, officially referred to as the ‘Auckland Unitary Plan Operative in part’, will be available to view on the council’s website from today.

This consists of annotated text and maps that will assist users of the plan to identify the parts that are not yet operative and under appeal.

Once all appeals are resolved, the Auckland Unitary Plan will be made fully operative.

The process and timeframe for resolving the appeals is a matter for the courts, however the council will be working with all parties to ensure that they are resolved as quickly as possible.

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