Porirua City Centre
The WRS identifies the Wellington CBD and the regional centres as the engine rooms of economic development. They are the hub for transport movements and civic and community investment. Their health, their resilience in the face of economic and social change, and the efficiency of transport and housing infrastructure investment around them is a key aspect of any successful sustainable economic development strategy.
The WRS recommends an overall vision for the region’s centres. This includes improving information about what is happening in these centres, developing regionally consistent principles for managing big box retail to minimize their potential to erode consolidation and the creation of centre development strategies.
WHO’S INVOLVED?
This project was led by Wellington City Council.
WHAT’S HAPPENED?
A stocktake was undertaken across the region to identify the strategic context, variations in planning and policy provisions (statutory and non-statutory). Research was undertaken in the three areas and assessed against their fit with WRS principles. Following an information-sharing forum held in June 2009 to identify trends, recognise and share examples of good practice, and determine whether there are any key recommendations that have emerged from the projects, a final report on the information sharing assessment of approaches to centres within the Wellington Region was presented to the Chief Executives Group in April 2010.
Key recommendations coming out of the report relate to seeking alignment of the region’s management approaches to centres through asking councils to:
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Agree to actively utilise the WRS website as a portal for exchanging information about management approaches to centres
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Hold a workshop to compare current and future approaches to the preparation and development of centre planning documents;
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Agree to invite all councils in the region to participate in centre planning consultation processes for all regionally significant centres and other key centres;
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Prepare and distribute to all councils in the region a work programme for their ongoing District Plan review at least every 6 months;
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Establish a working group of senior staff working primarily on District Plan matters, to meet and discuss common approaches and issues at least once every 6 months;
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Investigate the potential for regional collaboration in the development and delivery of implementation tools for the development and management of centres.
The District Plan Review Group was established in June 2010 to share information on best practice on centres planning and other matters, and possible changes to District Plans.
FORWARD WORK PLAN
The District Plan Review Group is to share information on best practice on centres planning and other matters, including any possible changes to District Plans. The stocktake will be reviewed in 2011.
