A new Nelson Tasman Future Development Strategy (FDS) will look at how Tasman District Council and Nelson City Council can help meet housing and commercial property demand over the next 30 years.

Both Councils committed to building on the current 2019 FDS, at a joint committee meeting held on 6 July 2021.

Future development strategies are based on requirements set out by central government in its National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS UD), the latest of which came into effect in 2020. The NPS UD sets out the Government’s guidelines and rules for development in cities across New Zealand. The 2020 version includes new rules that match many of both Council’s housing and sustainability goals. The 2019 FDS will form a starting point for the draft, but all the sites currently identified for future growth will need to be reassessed under the new requirements of the NPS UD.

Both Councils will now work on the strategy with the aim of releasing it to the public for consultation in 2022. The new strategy will also help inform Tasman's 2024 10-Year Plan and Nelson's 2024 Long Term Plan.

Tasman District Council Growth Coordinator Jacqui Deans said the objective was to create a new strategy consistent with any new requirements under the NPS UD. “We’ve got a fast-growing District and so we need to stay on top of things – actively monitoring this growth to keep up with ongoing demands is key.”

Having a solid, up to date document would also put councils in a good place to bid for central government funding, she said.

Jacqui said Tasman’s 10-Year Plan 2021 – 2031 showed how Tasman District Council was following through with planning for expected growth. Combined infrastructure investment in our recently adopted 10-Year Plan included some of the future development sites from the last strategy period, which offered a starting point for the upcoming strategy.

In order to give effect to the new FDS, a coordinated set of changes will be required to the Councils' future plans, policies, and other strategies. The creation of the new combined resource management plan for Tasman (Aorere ki uta, Aorere ki tai – Tasman Environment Plan) forms part of the implementation platform for the new FDS in Tasman District.