Richmond is the Tasman District’s main urban centre and is rapidly transforming from a rural service town to a metropolitan urban centre and commercial hub. Around 15,600 people live in Richmond. There are constraints and opportunities for development in all areas of Richmond. Richmond’s built form is generally low-density and low-rise.

Looking down the main street of Richmond
  • Providing serviced land for housing and business growth in Richmond to cater for high demand, while recognising natural hazards and productive land constraints.
  • Supporting effective and good quality intensification in central Richmond, which is serviced by robust infrastructure.
  • As Richmond grows and changes, there is a risk that it can:
    • Lose internal movement and connectivity
    • Lack sufficient reserve, recreation, and community facilities
    • Lose its distinctive sense of place, identity and character.
  • There is a risk that the Richmond central business zone may not maintain its vibrancy and role as the focal precinct for pedestrian-orientated intensive retailing, administration, community services, and interactions due to growth of neighbourhood centres on the periphery of the town.
  • The current central business area of Richmond lacks identity and character.
  • There is a risk of cross-boundary effects between adjoining residential and industrial activities in the Lower Queen Street area.
  • The range of housing choice in Richmond is limited and for many residents is increasingly unaffordable.
  • Richmond is vulnerable to a range of natural hazards (inundation, coastal erosion, slope instability, liquefaction, wildfire) and rising sea levels.
  • Develop a structure plan with iwi, the community, and stakeholders to provide a plan for the future. This process would include:
    • Reserves, facilities and open spaces
    • Active transport infrastructure
    • Zones and land uses including implementing the Future Development Strategy
    • Urban redevelopment and intensification
    • Providing for small to medium-scale activities in neighbourhood centre locations
    • Enhancing the character and amenity of Richmond
    • Consideration of productive land, rising sea levels and natural hazards constraints.
Did you know?

In 2021, Council began engagement with the community on the Reimagining Richmond South project. The focus for this structure plan 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, looking at how this could look as a place where more people can live, work, and spend time.