Two plan changes to the Whangārei District Plan are proposed:
- Plan Change 4A - Temporary Activities
- Plan Change 4C - Minor Improvements
These plan changes have been notified together to reduce the administrative costs of the notification process.
Submissions on these plan changes closed at 4:00pm on Tuesday 5 May 2026. A summary of submissions will be available on Wednesday 13 May 2026.
Plan Change 4A - Temporary Activities
The District Plan does not contain any policies enabling temporary activities and there are very limited rules which provide for temporary activities.
It is important that provisions are included in the Plan to provide for, and acknowledge the benefits of temporary activities. However, it is also important to manage significant adverse effects that may arise from temporary activities.
Plan Change 4A seeks to address the current gap by introducing a new Temporary Activities chapter and associated consequential amendments.
Plan Change 4C - Minor Improvements
Through consultation and day-to-day dealings, Council has received feedback that certain District Plan provisions are imposing costs and consenting delays without corresponding benefits.
PC4C proposes minor changes to some District Plan rules with the intention of providing for clarity, consistency, and an improve user experience in the interpretation of the District Plan.
The proposed changes also address anomalies, gaps, and errors in the District Plan without altering the existing policy intent.
What changes are being proposed?
Plan Change 4A - Temporary Activities
Plan Change 4A proposes:
- a new Temporary Activities chapter with clear objectives, policies, and rules for temporary activities, including temporary military training activities.
- amendments to the definition of temporary activities.
- amendments to the Transport, Noise and Vibration, and Signs chapters specific to temporary activities.
Plan Change 4C - Minor Improvements
Plan Change 4C proposes a narrow suite of amendments without making changes to objectives, policies, or zoning. You can view a summary of the proposed amendments for Plan Change 4C using the link below.
Summary of proposed changes to the District Plan - Plan Change 4C: Minor Improvements(PDF, 169KB)
The proposed changes include:
- amendments to improve the clarity of provisions and ensure consistency of interpretation where provisions are ambiguous or contradictory.
- amendments to address gaps within rules, without making changes to the overall policy direction, objectives, or policies.
- correct errors, grammar, and formatting.
- updates to the Road Hierarchy maps to ensure appropriate application of rules that are triggered by mapping.
What is the District Plan?
The Whangārei District Plan sets out how land in the district can be used, developed, and subdivided.
It includes objectives, policies, and methods to achieve the sustainable management of resources within the Whangārei District.
What does this mean for my property?
PC4A proposes new rules to make it easier for temporary activities, like community events, to be undertaken in the District, whilst ensuring the impacts of these events (such as noise and traffic) continue to be appropriately managed.
This won't change what you can and can't do on your property unless you are planning to use it for a temporary activity in the future.
While the intent of Plan Change 4C is to address minor issues and inconsistencies and retain policy intent, some changes may impact the current rules, in some cases relaxing rules while in other cases making them more restrictive.
Council has resolved to delay the legal effect of any proposed rules of Plan Changes 4A and 4C (excluding Road Hierarchy Mapping) until the plan changes become operative.
Therefore:
- any rule changes will not come into effect until the plan change process is complete and the plan changes are made operative; but
- the proposed amendments to the Road Hierarchy layer of the Energy, Infrastructure and Transport mapping group within the District-Wide Matters maps will have legal effect once a decision on submissions relating to this mapping layer is made and publicly notified.
Once in effect, existing activities and buildings on your property will not need to comply with the rules, unless you plan to make changes or do something different with your property.
The documents in this section contain information on the plan change notification and submissions process.
Notification documents
Other notification documents