The Gore District Council is to ask the Minister for the Environment for a brief extension to notify decisions on its Proposed District Plan.

The extension would move the statutory deadline from 29 August to January 2026.

The Proposed District Plan was notified on 31 August 2023 and is the first comprehensive review of the District’s planning framework since the operative District Plan came into force in 2006.

District plans are councils’ blueprint for how land use, development and environmental protection will be managed in the years ahead. =

Operations General Manager Dave Bainbridge-Zafar acknowledged that the District Plan review decision-making process had taken longer than anticipated.

This was due to the volume and complexity of submissions, evolving national planning direction, and a need to ensure procedural fairness, he said.

Contributing factors include:

• Multiple requests from submitters to pause or amend hearing timetables
• Delays in receiving critical technical information, such as flood hazard mapping
• Legislative changes, including the deferral of Significant Natural Area mapping under the 2024 Freshwater Amendment Act
• A nearly four-month delay in starting hearings due to submission period extensions and summary errors

Mr Bainbridge-Zafar said the extension was necessary to ensure the decisions were robust, fair, and reflected the significant investment by the community over the past five years.

“We’ve had over 130 submissions and nearly 7,000 individual submission points. This extension allows us to honour that input and ensure we deliver decisions that are well considered and legally sound.”

Hearings concluded at the end of last month. While final decisions may be notified by mid-December, the Council was requesting an extension to late January to accommodate any potential minor delays, Mr Bainbridge-Zafar said.

The Council has emailed all stakeholders and submitters about the proposal. Mana whenua was aware of the request and was supportive on the basis that it was important to follow a well-considered process, he said.

“The Council believed the proposed extension strikes the right balance – allowing for robust, inclusive decisions while minimising delays to development, infrastructure, and community outcomes.”

It would also ensure the District Plan would be published in an ePlan format, which would make it more accessible for all users.