Rural-Residential Land Use Strategy Discussion Document - May

• Maintaining a balance between a suitable supply of rural-residential lots to meet demand and
provide housing choice, while at the same time avoiding putting in place unnecessary infrastructure
to serve growth, is important.
• The current trends in rural living in the Rural Zones in Manawatu District and Palmerston North City,
if sustained, are considered to present a moderate risk to achieving the successful implementation
of the Residential Growth Strategy.
• There is a need to ensure rural-residential development does not jeopardise the development of
planned residential growth areas, or intensification in and around suburban centres.
• Constraints to rural-residential development within the City boundary could potentially encourage
inappropriate development in Rural Zones outside the City, for example, within the Manawatu District.
Developing an Options Framework
The following questions have been developed for consultation and to elicit feedback. Your feedback will
help Council define a set of management options to provide a sustainable supply of rural-residential
land and approaches for planning for rural-residential development in the City, over the next 20 years.
A series of questions are grouped under the following headings:
(i) Sustainability
(ii) Diversity and market choice
(iii) Rural economy
(iv) Rural residential subdivision – development controls and environmental design
(v) Integrated planning approaches and cross boundary issues.
Discussion points
Discussion point one: Sustainability
Sustainable development generally means development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The Council is committed to becoming a sustainable City and has adopted a Sustainable City Strategy for
achieving the Council’s vision and delivering on its aspirations of becoming a more sustainable City. The
purpose of the strategy is also to ensure cross Council integration towards this goal and that ongoing
work progressively directs positive changes in the environmental, economic and social development of
the City.
The Sustainable City Strategy provides an integrated planning framework for delivering on long-term
objectives to become a more resilient, self sufficient City, including its productive rural communities.
Several trends impact upon the ability of rural communities to be sustainable or self- sufficient into the
future, including:
15