Land categorisation

Land Categorisation – next steps

On 1 June, 2023, Council started contacting property owners across Hastings, via email or letter. This was to advise them of the outcome of this risk assessment process and the provisional category for the area their properties are in.

Since the initial communication, further emails and/or letters have gone out to these property owners, outlining the engagement opportunities available to them, as well as advising of any changes to their initial provisional categories, following an independent review of the assessment data.

A regional webpage has also been set up with information on the land categorisation process, the different categories and what they each mean, as well as what the next steps are.  Maps and answers to frequently asked questions are available on this page which you can visit here.

Have your say

Now that the land categorisation data has been independently reviewed, we have moved into engaging with residents in communities impacted by this process. We are committed to ensuring that local knowledge informs the final decisions regarding land categorisations in each area.

Below is an outline of they ways in which property owners can request information and provide feedback.

Drop-in centres/on-duty connectors

Affected property owners can discuss their situations face-to-face with an on-duty community connector at the Hastings District Council customer service centre in Lyndon Rd, Tuesdays to Fridays, 9am to 5pm.

You can ask any questions, provide feedback on the current provisional category of your property, and/or provide information on your experiences during the cyclone. While connectors will not have all the answers to your questions, they will locate information if it is available, or put you in touch with the appropriate organisation.

Eskdale community-led drop-in centre

• Tuesdays, 10am-3pm
• Thursdays, 5pm-7pm
• Fridays, 10 am – 3pm
• Sundays, 1pm-4pm

Community meetings

The meetings are category specific rather than area specific; please attend the meeting most convenient to you.

Category 3 properties

* Meetings for Category 3 properties have been scheduled in July to align with the Government’s expected announcements on buy-out options. Final confirmation of dates will be advised based on when those announcements are confirmed.

Category 2A properties

Category 2C properties

Category 2C* properties

If you own a Category 2C* property in Hastings, the outcome of engineering testing of stop bank repairs are expected see the categorisation change to a 1, which has the following definition: ‘Repair [dwelling] to previous state is all that is required to manage future severe weather risk event.’

We will keep you informed of announcements form Hawke’s Bay Regional Council in this space.

Category 2P properties

Because these properties are preliminarily assessed as requiring specific flood mitigation measures on each property, the communication and support needs of these owners are expected to be quite varied. To address that, owners of Category 2P properties in Hastings are being linked with a Community Connector who will assist them to have questions answered. Owners of 2P properties can expect to receive the contact details of their connector in the week commencing