13 December 2011

Heritage Inventory won’t be included in Hutt City District Plan

A Hutt City Council Heritage Inventory containing over 400 properties, mainly houses, will not be included in an upcoming District Plan change reviewing Lower Hutt’s heritage rules.

The Council’s District Plan Subcommittee made the decision at a meeting attended by more than 100 homeowners last night.

Chair Roger Styles says the subcommittee was mindful of the need to weigh up the costs and benefits of a range of options – including regulatory and voluntary methods of heritage protection – and that a blanket regulatory approach on such a scale could have far reaching implications for homeowners.

“It is clear that many other councils have adopted a more balanced approach, with a mixture of regulatory and voluntary measures. Last night’s decision is consistent with this and will confine the regulatory approach to those buildings registered by the Historic Places Trust.

“We have asked for further work, particularly looking at the costs and benefits of different options as required by the Resource Management Act. I am hopeful that this will provide a solid basis for the plan’s core list of buildings to be supplemented by way of voluntary listing of significant heritage buildings across the city.”

Other direction given for the draft plan change included guidance on the threshold where resource consent would be needed for building work, additional criteria for considering consents and a presumption that consents wouldn’t be notified.

Cr Styles says contrary to some media reports, the buildings in the Civic precinct will remain in the District Plan as the whole precinct is registered by the Historic Places Trust.

“The Council is committed to heritage protection, as evidenced by the planned multi-million dollar strengthening work planned for the city’s administration building.”

A draft proposed plan change is expected to come back to the subcommittee for consideration in April next year.

ENDS

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