Planning is under way for a new urban village at Awakeri with more than 2000 residential lots.

The plan, unveiled at a Whakatāne District Council briefing this week, is described as “an opportunity to design a town, literally from the ground up”.

“In Awakeri, we, as council, have the opportunity to plan a new urban village armed with some pretty powerful information,” said senior policy planner Stephen Goodwin.

“We know what the key drivers for development are.

“We know what to avoid, and what to enhance to avoid future risks.”

He spoke about building a town that was compact, climate resilient, considerate of the environment

and recognised historical and cultural values.

Policy planning and consents manager Nicholas Woodley outlined some of the reasons the area had been chosen. He said Awakeri had been identified as having a low natural hazard profile.

It was far enough inland not to be threatened by coastal hazards, and although streams ran through the town there was no large river that would require protection from flooding with large stopbanks.

Growth manager Dan Smith said flooding and slip events of the past few weeks showed the importance of where communities started growing.

“We have a really good opportunity to have that thinking done upfront, not later on when we’re faced with catastrophic events.”

Awakeri had excellent transport connectivity, being the meeting place of two state highways; and was well located between areas of employment in Whakatāne, Kawerau, Edgecumbe and Ōpōtiki.

It also had large contiguous land blocks and there was a strong interest from some landowners in development.

Councillor Malcolm Whitaker raised the issue of some of the land in the area being grade 2 Highly Productive Land protected in legislation from development.

Mr Woodley said although the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land made it difficult to consent a development, there was a pathway to develop an urban centre identified in a strategic document such as a spatial plan.

“That doesn’t mean it is unfettered. We still have to demonstrate it is an effective use of land and not creating too much sprawl ... so not creating a whole lot of 200sqm sections.”

Mr Woodley also addressed the issue of the planning happening in the midst of Resource Management Act reforms in which councils have been told by central government to stop any plan changes.

“There is an exemption pathway,” he said. “If we put a case up to the minister he would approve a plan change. We’ve had some initial discussions with the Ministry for the Environment. They were really optimistic ... because essentially it is about providing for growth and there is a strong commitment from the current Government to enable that.”

First, staff are aiming to get a structure plan in place by October.

Councillor Wilson James asked what timeframe they were looking at before some action was seen.

Mr Woodly said the National Policy Statement for Urban Development obligated councils to proactively provide enough land for residential development.

The district had about three or four years of development capacity available.

“That gives an indication of the urgency we need to proceed with to unlock growth in these new areas.

“I don’t think spades in the ground are going to be the reality within the next three to five years. It’s more about making sure it’s well planned.”

Other growth areas for the next 30 years include Matatā, which is already enabled in the current plan for another 600-to-700 homes.

The council also plans to enable Māori land holders west of Coastlands to develop as many as 950 dwellings through structure planning and a District Plan change.

Murupara and Minginui have master plans in place for residential development in which limited plan changes are required.

Mr Woodley said the cost of the project fell within the current planning budget.

“The big cost will be in the infrastructure, and we look to the developer paying for that through development levies and contributions as well as the central government component through NZTA and how they fund upgrades as well.”