At the southern end of the Waimea Plains, Wakefield is one of the older towns in Tasman. It has a population of around 2,530 people. Wakefield town centre provides a range of services for the wider community. Around the town there are rural residential areas. There are challenges with flooding.
- Managing the residential and business growth proposed to be accommodated in Wakefield, which is surrounded by land that is both productive and vulnerable to flooding.
- As Wakefield grows and changes, there is a risk that it can:
- Lack sufficient reserve, recreation, and community facilities
- Lose internal connectivity (active movement networks within Wakefield, particularly due to SH6 severance)
- Lose its distinctive sense of place, identity, and character.
- There is a risk of cross-boundary effects between residential and industrial activities in proximity to the light industrial zone on Bird Lane.
- Wakefield town centre near the village green carpark lacks vibrancy.
- Range of housing choice in Wakefield is limited and for many residents is increasingly unaffordable.
- Implement the Future Development Strategy which provides for additional residential and business land.
- Consolidate commercial activities along Whitby Way, Will Watch Lane, and Edward Street to the school, in the heart of the village, and around the green.
- Support landscape and streetscape initiatives to enhance the heritage character of the heart of Wakefield; and apply good urban design principles to all development in the private and the public domain.
- Encourage a diversity of lot sizes and a range of housing forms to facilitate well designed, lower cost housing development close to the village centre.