Horowhenua Growth Strategy 2040
The population of Horowhenua is projected to grow significantly over the next 20 years. In response to this, Council has been looking at how it can plan to provide enough land for future growth while maintaining Horowhenua’s unique character and protecting our environment.
The growth strategy identifies areas where residential and industrial growth might occur and will guide decisions about where and how to accommodate growth out to 2040. The Growth Strategy does not change the District Plan zoning of any of the sites identified - this requires a formal Resource Management Act process.
Horowhenua Growth Strategy 2040 (2023 Update)(PDF, 4MB)
Background
The Development Plan was prepared in 2006/2007 and adopted by Council in 2008. The purpose of the Development Plan 2008 was to manage the nature, location and structure of development across the District for 20 years and beyond. This Plan informed a number of substantial Plan Changes in 2009-2011 to the 1999 version of the District Plan and it also helped guide the review of the 1999 District Plan and development of the current District Plan (made operative in 2015).
In recent years the Horowhenua has been experiencing (and is expected to continue experiencing) a higher level of growth than in recent history. This growth is largely due to the improvements to the roading network to the south which have improved travel times and accessibility between the Horowhenua and Wellington.
A review of the Development Plan 2008 was commenced in 2016. The main purpose of the review was to ensure that the revised population projections and the effects of improved connectivity to Wellington were taken into account. This review resulted in the development of the Horowhenua Growth Strategy 2040, which was adopted by Council in November 2018 and replaced the Development Plan 2008.
A further review was carried out in 2021 and adopted in May 2022, after the rate of population growth in the District was shown to be much greater than the 2018 version of the Strategy anticipated. The 2022 update - Horowhenua Growth Strategy 2040 (2022 Update) - supersedes the 2018 Growth Strategy. The Growth Strategy was updated in October 2023 to incorporate the Notice of Requirement area for the Ōtaki to North of Levin designation area, and to correct minor errors.