Brookvale New Urban Development Area

What's happening

Land at Brookvale has now been rezoned for residential development as part of the mediation of an appeal to the proposed Hastings District Plan. The Environment Court has approved the new District Plan provisions that will relate to the residential zoning of Brookvale.

A structure plan has also been approved by the Court and this document guides and directs the residential development of the area. The structure plan sets out things such as the road layout, infrastructure services and the location of public reserves, walkways and cycleways.

A number of specialist reports and peer reviews were prepared to assist in the development of a structure plan for the area. Some residential development is now occuring at Brookvale, in line with the staging approved by the Environment Court.  The extent of the rezoning area is depicted on the Brookvale development area map.

Background - how did this come about?

A request to rezone the land at Brookvale was made to Council as part of public submissions on the Proposed District Plan back in 2014. The Council rejected the submission at the time as the Brookvale area was not identified in the regional growth strategy (known as the Heretaunga Plains Urban Development Strategy or HPUDS) as an appropriate growth area. The Council’s decision was appealed to the Environment Court in October 2015. Following the review of HPUDS in 2016, the Brookvale area was included in the 2017 revised strategy as a Greenfield Growth Area. This allowed the Council to consider this area for rezoning to replace the Arataki Extension area (which was affected by the Te Mata odour issue)

Mediation process to resolve Environment Court appeal

The process of mediating an Environment Court appeal is confidential between all parties involved in the appeal. In October 2015 when the Council’s decision was appealed to the Environment Court, any submitters to the District Plan process could have advised the Court that they wished to be a party to the Appeal and thus participate in the mediation process and be privy to the information and discussions that occurred during this Court led process.

Until the documents outlining the resolution of the Appeal are signed by all parties and approved by the Environment Court, the Council could not advise landowners or the public about the specific details of the potential rezoning and could not involve other parties in the structure plan process. The Environment Court ratified its decision on 13 January 2020 and Council can now provide detail around the District Plan provisions and Structure Plan which will direct development at Brookvale.