Editorial: Time to assess the plan

Rotorua's mayor Steve Chadwick. Photo / Ben Fraser

It's been a long time coming, but the Rotorua District Council proposed District Plan is finally here.

It's one of the most important documents the council will produce and sets the direction for the district's future development.

Whether you like it or not, this document is the blueprint which everyone must refer to before going ahead with any sort of development.

Rotorua's mayor said there had been three years of intense community engagement to get this far, but there had been a lot more work going on behind the scenes.

The document had seen a few delays with changes in the council's planning department meaning at least three different council planning managers have been involved in the project, but the finish line is now in sight.

There will no doubt be appeals to the plan as it stands, but once those issues have been ironed out the plan will become fully operative.

Businesses looking to expand or move to the district, surveyors, engineers, developers and iwi will now all have a much better understanding of the direction the council wants to take and where it wants future development to take place.

Considering the original plan has been in place since 1996 one could say it was about time.

But the council seems to have listened to those in the know.

Councillors generally are not planning experts, engineers or developers - they must rely on advice from their staff and people working in those fields - they must be commended for all of their hard work, but they still may not have got everything right.

Thirty days may not seem long to get through what is a large and complex document, but now is the time for submitters to appeal, if they believe it needs any further fine-tuning.

For me, this process is like voting. If you don't have your say now then you have little right to complain in the future.