Need for scheme review discussed

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 256, 27 September 1988, Page 3

Need for scheme review discussed

Whether to put together a new district planning scheme or patch up the old one was discussed at the last Waimarino town planning committee meeting.

Currently the scheme is in three parts, covering the three former councils that make up the district council. The impending amalgamation was cited as a reason for shelving a review, and for pushing a review through. Some councillors felt there was no point re-

viewing the scheme with further amalgamation on the horizon, while it was suggested that doing it now will mean the new territorial authority will have a scheme to follow that has been decided locally. Planner Ted Fox said that way "you, t h e

elected council, set the. course of planning for the district." Mr Fox said he would be happy to work on reviewing the scheme. "But for you is it worth it?" he asked. The intention of a review would be to produce one document which would be applicable to the whole district. The philosophy behind a new scheme

would be that planning be as flexible as possible. "The council believes the planning is a political process, not a legal one, and that as far as possible decisions should be made by locally elected representatives of the people rather than by legal tribunals," the council has said in a proposal statement. Mr Fox suggested council should "burn

the old schemes and start again," aiming for a much simpler document. Cr Dave Griffiths said the council still needed a blueprint to work from. Mr Fox argued that if you have rigid planning rules legal argument takes over and the planning decision process is 1 o s t . Cr Griffiths said planning 'benchmarks' were necessary. "This way you'll get a guy with the gift of the gab getting his way because he can talk fast," said Cr Griffiths. Mr Fox said that happens now. He said there would still b e checks and balances in a flexible scheme. He said he had seen cases where people were frustrated by "good lawyers going to hearings and saying 'your book says this and you can't do it'." Cr Thompson suggested calling for the planners and individual wards to make recommendations on scheme changes. Issues to be addressed by a scheme review would be rural depopulation and encouraging the four major industries. The council sees a need to encourage farming, horticulture, forestry and tourism at the same time as protecting the lifestyles of existing members of the community. The district scheme must also reflect the fact that the region has a large Maori population, says the council statement. Other things that

needed looking at were the conflicting parts of the three present schemes, creating one rural zone that covers all the district and possibly reducing the size of the boroughs (borough rural areas to be incorporated into a district rural zone). The committee resolved that the District Planning Scheme Review be deferred until each ward reviews its particular scheme. Proposed amendments will then be brought to Full Council. Following this the town planners will endeavour to amalgamate the three schemes to be in place before October 1989.