The majority of Tasman District’s land is zoned rural. The productive use of rural land underpins the social, economic and cultural well-being of the people of the District. We know from previous conversations with our communities that it is important for our rural areas to keep looking and feeling rural as they grow. It’s also important to keep productive land available for food production in the future.

Creating the new Tasman Environment Plan is an opportunity to review our current policies designed to look after our rural areas. We want to build resilience in the face of a changing climate and natural hazards, turn around biodiversity loss, retain productive land, further protect and restore waterways, and plan for sustainable development. This includes careful management of all earthworks.

Many of our rural communities are growing. We must plan carefully to allow for rural lifestyles, while not building on land that is good for food production. One way to do this is through building second dwellings on current lots, something Tasman District Council’s recent Plan Change 60 (the rural review) has made possible without needing to further subdivide the land.

We have many different rural landscapes and activities, so what’s appropriate to build or do in one area may not be appropriate in another.

To create the new Tasman Environment Plan we are having conversations with our rural communities at this early stage because it’s vital the new plan reflects their aspirations and is workable on the ground and considers what rural character might mean to people.

There has been a lot of regulation and strategic direction coming from central government and as council, we’ll be working with our communities, iwi, and industry to give effect to this in the new plan, while providing for the future needs of our District.

In this episode of the Tasman Environment Plan podcast, TDC Policy Planners Jeremy Butler and Myaan Bengosi talk rural areas in the Tasman District.

Find out more about this topic at the link below:

• Rural areas fact sheet