Development Contributions
Development Contributions Policy 2024 (effective 1 July 2024)
The key purpose of the Development Contributions Policy is to ensure that growth, and the cost of infrastructure to meet that growth, is funded by those who cause the need for that infrastructure.
The Development Contributions Policy explores why development contributions are needed, what they fund, when they need to be paid, and what you’re likely to pay.
On this page you'll also find a guide to development contributions that provides a simple overview of the policy and answers some common questions, as well as the base fees used to calculate the contribution you'll pay to Council.
Amendments to the Policy
The updated Development Contributions Policy was adopted on 26 June 2024 alongside the adoption of the Long Term Plan 2024-2044 (LTP). The amendments included:
- Updating the policy to support the principles of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993.
- Delegating some decision making to the General Manager Housing and Business / Chief Executive for some requests for remission / reduction / postponement
- Updating growth assumptions and base data
- Introducing additional maps to define Development Contribution areas*
- Greater flexibility to undertake special assessment
- Updating the Development Contribution amounts based on the capital projects in the LTP.
*Please note that the purpose of the Development Contribution maps is for distinguishing which charges should be imposed on a particular property when a service is available. Inclusion in a catchment area doesn’t indicate that all reticulated services are available to the site.
Development Contributions Policy 2024(PDF, 3MB)
If you have questions about development contributions for your project, call us on 06 366 0999 or email enquiries@horowhenua.govt.nz
Overview
As new development occurs throughout the Horowhenua District it places demand on the Council to provide a range of new and upgraded infrastructure. It's important to ensure that costs of providing new assets for development are adequately and sustainably accounted for.
Development contributions are provided for under the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA 2002) and are able to be used to fund capital expenditure required as a result of growth. Development contributions are paid by the developer or land owner at the time of subdivision, service connection, land use consent or building consent.
Horowhenua District Council previously charged development contributions between 2006 and 2015; however, in 2015 decided to stop charging development contributions under the Development Contributions Policy and introduced a Financial Contributions Policy.
Development Contributions were re-introduced with the Long Term Plan in 2021 as growth took off in Horowhenua. The Policy was reviewed with the Long Term Plan in 2024 to ensure alignment with forecast growth and the capital programme.
Growth context
The Horowhenua District continues to grow rapidly.
Horowhenua has experienced strong growth since 2014 and Census 2023 data showed we are New Zealand’s 10th fasted growing district. Our district’s population is projected to grow at a rate of 1.5% per annum from 2023 until 2030, increasing to 2.1% per annum until 2044. This means our population will increase to over 54,000 by 2044 and over 66,000 by 2054.
Continued strong growth means that Council needs to continue planning for and invest in a range of infrastructure, such as for water supply, stormwater, wastewater and our parks and reserves. When growth in population and business takes place, new development is carried out to accommodate it.
The extra traffic, water consumption, wastewater generation and stormwater run-off from that development, all take up spare capacity in Council’s infrastructure.
Unless provision is made, that capacity can be used up over time and networks start to fail. Traffic congestion, low water pressure or quality, wastewater overflows and flooding can all signal a failure to keep up with growth.
In some cases, parks, libraries and other public amenities can become crowded as the capacity they were designed for is used up. To avoid this, Council plans ahead and puts capital spending in its budgets to provide more capacity to service growth when it is needed.