Thank you to everyone who attended our Reimagining Richmond South community information events in November and to those who shared feedback with us online.

The project aims to help meet growing housing demand by exploring how the area south of Richmond towards Hope could become a place where more people enjoy living, working, and spending time.

We were grateful to meet some 200 locals during this first stage of community engagement and learn their views on the focus area as it is today, as well as how they imagine the future of this part of Tasman. We also received dozens of written and digital feedback forms, and hosted stakeholder, landowner, and iwi meetings during the engagement period.

Through this first stage of engagement, we’ve learned that many people value the rural feel and fertile soils of the area yet recognise the need for more housing and are interested to explore innovative ideas for providing a mix of accommodation that is sensitive to the landscape. Very few people have expressed favour for low-density suburban housing and early feedback recommends that if there is to be housing, it should be at a medium-high density with good planning and design.

Across the feedback received at our events and online, there’s high demand for any new development in this area to provide for local cycleways and walking tracks, as well as parks, health services, places to eat, and schools. The ability to buy affordable and high-quality local produce in the area is highly valued and something that the community wants to keep for future generations.

A full summary of feedback received will be available early next year ahead of community and landowner visioning sessions in March/April. The community vision for the area will be the foundation for detailed structure planning work.

The structure plan will guide how Richmond South should develop, covering things like housing design and density, business areas, sustainable infrastructure requirements, how people will get around, where’s best for reserves and spaces for people to come together, and how we look after the environment and heritage.

Reimagining Richmond South is part of a wider programme of work to address our district’s growing housing needs. Council will be consulting with our communities next year on a series of plan changes to open up pockets of land for development in some our local centres, as well as engaging on the new Nelson-Tasman Future Development Strategy that will look at how we provide for growth in the medium to long term.

Later in 2022 we’ll also be seeking feedback on issues and options identified in the process to create the Tasman Environment Plan. This plan will eventually replace current council resource management plans as the blueprint for how we grow as a district, and use and care for our land, air, and water ki uta ki tai (from the mountains to the sea).