Recently we reported New Plymouth District Council’s (what we thought were) decisions on very innovative coastal development restrictions. Some corrections to this earlier news item follow

New Plymouth District Council contacted us with the following comments. Their main concerns were: –

1. That they have not imposed controls that will restrict development, including visibility from the foreshore. They are in the process of considering this and the council has agreed to some broad directions to be investigated. These provisions still need to be developed, consulted on with the community and notified for public submission (including a hearing process). There is still a long way to go before implementation.

2. Coastal Buffer Area – actually called Coastal Policy Area, also changed reference to Coastal Policy Statement.

3. The council has not made the statement that development will be attached to an existing community – it has agreed to investigate the appropriateness of lifestyle areas (specific locations where subdivision could occur), so the outcomes of these investigations will assist with establishing the councils view on this.

4. The time frame will not be until later next year, although NPDC will be working on the issues (the date we reported may have come from their reference that they would be consulting with landowners early next year).