Rural-Residential Land Use Strategy Discussion Document - May

PART 3: ISSUES AND OPTIONS FOR RURAL RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
Overview of issues
There is little written guidance about what sustainable subdivision development may mean with respect
to rural-residential subdivisions.
This type of development presents a distinct set of issues that should be considered and planned for.
Such issues may include the following:
• Rural-residential properties are desired by people who wish to live in a rural environment. Such
development can have the potential to destroy the very features that these people have come to the
rural environment for, such as privacy, open ’natural’ surroundings and quiet. Often rural-residential
development occurs in, or near, attractive or sensitive landscapes such as adjacent to waterbodies
and native bush. Special landscape and ecological protections may need to be planned for.
• As land is developed for rural living, future options for the productive agricultural use of the land
are reduced, particularly where this occurs on elite or more versatile soils.
• Fragmentation of farmland effectively limits future production choices for the land. Farm parks or
similar concepts can provide a rural residential lifestyle while keeping farming activities intact and
having only minor effects on rural character.
• There is some evidence that a lack of properties in the 0.5ha to1.5ha range is encouraging people to
purchase four hectare lots for their rural living activities. This takes up more land than is needed and
leaves some purchasers with land they find difficult to manage. However, a predominance of these
smaller blocks also risks the creation of rural areas with housing intensities closer to levels in lower
density suburban areas.
• Large areas of similar rural-residential blocks will often radically alter the rural landscape, sometimes
causing the landscape to take on more of an ‘urban‘ character than a rural one. If this is an issue for local
communities, such change may need to be managed by appropriate planning, informed by an accurate
assessment of existing landform patterns and visual impact. For example, small compact houselots
(hamlets) surrounded by open farm land may better preserve the rural open character of the plains.
• Rural-residential development on the outskirts of the City, if not appropriately located and designed,
can constrain plans for controlled urban growth. If staged expansion is intended for the future,
planning mechanisms need to be in place in these potential expansion areas, to secure appropriately
designed and well-integrated neighbourhood communities. There are examples in Palmerston North
where rural residential developments, located close to planned growth areas have now been infilled
and retrofitted, and are poorly integrated with the surrounding residential community.
• Setting up rural-residential developments away from established water and sewage reticulation
requires private infrastructure systems. If private systems are not properly constructed or maintained
this creates the risk of adverse impacts on the environment. Council can also face mounting pressure
to provide reticulated infrastructure systems, which may be inefficient. There are potentially high
costs to Council, if failing private systems have to be taken under public control, in order to avoid
adverse effects on the environment.
• Rural-residential areas usually do not cater well for bicycle and walking traffic. Walking along rural
country roads can be very dangerous due to narrow roads with limited shoulders and traffic speeds.
• Additional traffic from rural-residential subdivision development on unsealed roads can create noise
and dust nuisance.
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