Planning the future of the wider Richmond-Hope area

Updated December 2022

Richmond and its surrounding areas are desirable places for people to live, work, and shop. There’s great potential for these areas to offer even more to current and future residents.

In September, we adopted the Future Development Strategy 2022 – 2052. This strategy confirmed the direction of growth in Richmond and the need for us to provide a mix of residential housing and business land opportunities. It identified Richmond as an intensification area (further development in the current built environment) and south of Richmond towards Hope as an expansion area (new development).

We have completed a lot of early structure planning work for the Richmond South-Hope area. This has included two rounds of public engagement so far with more to come because local communities have an important role in shaping the potential development.

Through this engagement, we’ve learned a lot about the Richmond South-Hope area. While it remains an important future growth area for the District, we first want to better understand the potential that can be unlocked in the existing Richmond urban area, before engaging again on the options for the Richmond South-Hope development.

We have heard a strong message from locals about the importance of providing for a mix of housing and the need for high-quality intensification in Richmond – we want to take some time next year to explore what that could look like with the community.

Once we have identified areas for intensification and opportunities to support the growth of Richmond, we will revisit how the future Richmond South-Hope area could relate to changes to the existing Richmond urban area and the scale and pace of growth that needs to be accommodated.

We will keep you informed and seek your input on the future of Richmond next year.

Local communities have an important role in shaping the potential development of Richmond South.

The Reimagining Richmond South project aims to help meet growing housing demand in Richmond by providing for a mix of new homes. We will achieve this through the creation of a structure plan, designed with involvement from landowners, neighbouring communities, and potential future residents. Council is also engaging with local iwi and will work closely with stakeholders to ensure the plan is well-informed.

This will be a detailed guide for how Richmond South should develop, looking at things like housing design and density, areas for business activity, how people will get around, where’s best for reserves and other spaces for people to come together, as well as the natural environment and cultural heritage.

The focus for this project covers the area from the current southern boundary of Richmond, southwards to between White Road and Ranzau Road, and into the foothills of the Barnicoat Range. The focus area will be refined through the feedback we receive.

Richmond South was previously indicated as a potential urban growth area through the Nelson-Tasman Future Development Strategy 2019 (FDS 2019) and there is current strong interest in development. This area is likely to appeal to families due to nearby schools and work opportunities.

During April 2022, we gathered ideas about the future of the area south of Richmond towards Hope.

The potential development of Richmond South is a big opportunity for our district. As a Council, we have sought community ideas on how to make the most of it as we work towards a structure plan.

Read below some of the ideas heard through online community visioning sessions and others submitted directly.

In April 2022, we engaged on the community vision for Richmond South and four early concepts for growth.

This involved a series of online webinars, visioning sessions, and topic-specific workshops. The purpose of the webinars was to present what we learned from Round 1 of engagement and provide information on the early insights and concepts. The visioning sessions were interactive as we sought feedback and discussion to help create a community vision for the future of the Richmond South – Hope area. The workshops delved a bit deeper on key issues such as productive land, housing typologies, employment, and creating a community with a heart.

We will provide a summary of what we heard in due course and it will be considered alongside the perspectives shared through our website visioning above and feedback form (now closed), iwi and stakeholder engagement, and over the phone and email.

You can watch a recording of the webinar here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KaUtbiEhV0.

The online round two of engagement followed our first round of engagement that included community information events at Hope Hall in November 2021. We enjoyed meeting some 200 locals through these events and learning their views on the current Richmond South area and how they imagine the future of this part of Tasman. A summary report of the feedback received at these events is available here.

Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback to date.

If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to get in touch: richmondsouth@tasman.govt.nz.