The Porirua City Council has consulted on its draft code of development standards. The Harbour Trust and GOPI made a joint submission. We were generally supportive of the proposed new code. It contains a wealth of guidance information via links to external sources. We were particularly pleased to see references to the Harbour Accord. Our belief is that the pre-application stage for any developer is crucial. Not only can it save a lot of grief further into the development process but we believe that following best practice a developed environment that is conducive to protecting waterways and promoting bio-diversity is attainable.
Category: Submissions
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Mount Welcome Fast Track Process
The proposed Mount Welcome development on some of Porirua Harbour’s most erosion prone land should not be consented in the short term, the Harbour Trust and Guardians of Pāuatahanui Inlet believe. In a joint submission to the Fast Track Panel considering a request by the developers for a 15 year consent for 949 houses and commercial premises, PHT and GOPI contend there is neither the demand nor the infrastructure to handle such a development on top of the Plimmerton Farm development already underway and in the absence of a master plan for the seven blocks of the Northern Growth area. The trunk sewage pipes through Mana are already at capacity with frequent overflows during rain events. Sediment flows to the Taupō swamp and down the Kakaho stream into the inlet are choking the harbour. If the panel does decide to consent the development we suggest a limit of 5 years rather than the 15 being sought. This would enable better technology, particularly related to climate change adaptation, to be available before the bulk of the development’s stages would be built.
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Conservation Amendment Bill
The highly controversial Conservation Amendment Bill as originally worded provided for more commercial activity on the Conservation Estate. The Harbour Trust in a joint submission with the Guardians of Pāuatahanui Inlet and many others opposed this and argued that conservation protection ought to be the primary objective and commercial activities must not compromise the environmental and ecological protection values provided by conservation lands.
We also opposed a provision to be able to sell and exchange a huge swath of conservation land, potentially including the Pāuatahanui Wildlife Reserve and the DOC reserve behind Tawa.
After the public backlash, the Minister of Conservation vowed to remove the controversial provisions from the Bill before it is passed.
We were also concerned to see changes to legislation that would further water down the importance of iwi in terms of decisions around conservation matters. In our area, in particular, the iwi are the leading light in terms of promoting restoration and protection of the natural environment.
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Natural Environment & Planning Bills
The Trust and GOPI made joint submissions to the Environment Select Committee in February 2026 on the above Bills. These two Bills will replace the Resource Management Act 1991. Our organisations are very concerned that unless the Bills are changed to include clear, enforceable and precautionary environmental limits that growth of the built environment will take place without sufficient checks and balances and that environments such as Te Awarua o Porirua will continue to degrade.
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Select Committee on Fast Track Bill
The NZ Parliament Environment Committee is calling for public submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill.
The bill would amend the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024. The bill seeks to:
- amend the Act to improve certainty that grocery retail competition is a relevant factor in deciding whether a project has significant regional or national benefits, with the aim of improving competition in the grocery sector.
- make technical and operational changes to the fast-track approvals process aimed at improving the efficiency of the process by reducing time frames, duplication, and unnecessary costs, and providing clarity for applicants to the fast-track approvals process by addressing ambiguities.
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PCC consultation on “Local Water Done Well”
Under Local Water Done Well, the Government has said the way we manage water services (drinking water, wastewater and stormwater) in Aotearoa needs to change. This is the most important decision we’ll make for our city in decades – we need to change the way water services are delivered in our region, and we want to hear your views.
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GWRC Natural Resources Plan Change 1
Proposed Plan Change 1 to the Natural Resources Plan (PC1) is currently paused effective from 26 June 2025. The plan change process will resume when there is greater certainty on the direction of the amended National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (which may be post-Cabinet decisions and prior to gazettal).