Framework for Growth Released to the Public | infonews.co.nz New Zealand News

After two years of work and public consultation, the plan for managing residential and industrial development in New Plymouth District has been released.

During the next 20 years the district will see 6,000 new homes being built – or about 300 a year.

How that will be managed is laid out in the Framework for Growth, which is available from Puke Ariki and district libraries, and this website.

“It’s a great achievement to have this framework in place, because it ensures that New Plymouth District Council will have enough land available in the right places to meet the coming demand for residential and industrial growth,” says Assistant Chief Executive Frank Versteeg.

“However, this isn’t the end of the process.

“Over the next few years we’ll be making the necessary changes to the District Plan, such as changing the zoning designation of blocks of land, and each of those plan changes will require public consultation.

“We will advertise each proposal as they come up so that everyone gets a chance to have their say,” he says.

Future residential growth will be retained around existing towns where services and infrastructure exist. Most of the future housing demand will be within New Plymouth and Bell Block, with the remainder spread across the district’s towns.

New areas for industrial development have been focused in Bell Block/New Plymouth east, to take advantage of the planned upgrade of the roading network.

The district’s housing trends are for more homes to have fewer people in them. In the census period from 1991 to 2006 the district’s population increased by 2.5 per cent while the number of households increased by 12.5 per cent.

In addition, the recently released Taranaki Industry Projections report by Business Economic Research Ltd (BERL) shows that Taranaki can expect a population increase in coming years as the region’s economy grows at a faster rate than New Zealand’s between now and 2026.

During that period, the number of people in employment in Taranaki will rise at two per cent a year from 45,200 full-time equivalent employees in 2006 to 67,000 by 2026.

“As a district we have to be able to cater to these trends while managing our infrastructure and environment – which is what the Framework for Growth will enable us to do,” says Mr Versteeg.