Best Practice Coastal Planning
This section has been provided to assist councils, and others with an interest in coastal planning, in developing policies and plans which help ensure positive outcomes for the coast. Both statutory and non-statutory planning documents can be used to set goals for coastal management and to provide mechanisms to help achieve them. Some of these, such as national policy statements, national environmental standards, regional policy statements and regional and district plans, are prepared under the RMA. Others, such as Long Term Plans and Annual Plans, are prepared under the Local Government Act. Yet others, such as coastal management strategies, coastal structure plans and the like, may have no statutory basis at all, but can provide a strategic planning framework to guide the development and implementation of statutory plans.
How do planning documents contribute to coastal management?
Authority for planning document | Type of planning document | Planning document is prepared by | Relevance to coastal management |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resource Management Act | Regional Policy Statements | Regional Councils | Overview of coastal management issues in the region, and policy and methods to achieve integrated management of the coastal environment |
| Regional Coastal Plans | Regional Councils | Objectives, policies and rules applying to the coastal marine area (below mean high water springs) | |
| Other Regional Plans | Regional Councils | Objectives, policies and rules applying to air, land and freshwater management within the catchment and specific resource management issues in the coastal environment | |
| District Plans | Territorial authorities | Objectives, policies and rules applying to subdivision and land use in the coastal environment. May contain structure plans for localised areas | |
| Iwi planning documents | Iwi | Identification of coastal management issues of significance to iwi and how they can be addressed | |
| Local Government Act | Long Term Plans | Regional Councils and Territorial Authorities | Identification of outcomes for the coast sought by the community over the next ten years or more |
| Annual Plans | Regional Councils and Territorial Authorities | Financial provision for expenditure on coastal management and infrastructure | |
| Non-statutory | Coastal Management Strategies | Regional Councils and Territorial Authorities (singly or jointly) | Long-term direction for the management of the coast |
| Urban growth strategies and other strategies | Regional Councils and Territorial Authorities (singly or jointly) | Long-term direction for the management of urban growth which impacts on the coastal environment | |
| Structure Plans | Territorial Authorities | Spatial direction on how a local area is expected to develop |
Last updated at 2:12PM on February 25, 2015