Proposed RPS wins national planning award

A ‘logically constructed’ Northland Regional Council planning document which impressed judges with the collaborative approach used in its development has scooped a national planning award.

The regional council’s freshly-adopted Proposed Regional Policy Statement (RPS) earned it the Resource Management Law Association’s (RMLA) Documentation Award 2013 at the association’s annual conference at New Plymouth recently.

Several years in the making, the Proposed RPS identifies the significant resource management issues for the region and sets out how resources such as land, water, soil, minerals, plants, animals and structures will be managed.

The RMLA awards recognise documents like the Proposed RPS that make “a significant contribution to the development of the practice of resource management and/or exhibit innovation and excellence in the planning or technical approach(es) used”.

In its decision on the Proposed RPS, the judging committee said it was impressed at the collaborative approach taken to its development.

“It has a wide view that seeks to provide for economic development and wellbeing while sustainable managing resources in the region for future generations.”

The committee said the document was “logically constructed and made for a high degree of ease of use and understanding of the direction it sought to promote”.

Retiring regional councillor Ian Walker, who chaired the council’s Regional Policy Committee, says the council had collected the award on behalf of all Northlanders, who could be proud of what had been achieved on their behalf.

He says while individual councillors – himself included – had sometimes held strong views about what should and should not be traversed in the Proposed RPS, the overall end result was a modern and progressive document that would serve the region well in the coming years.

The RMLA award also recognised the robust process that had been followed during its development and was a testament to all involved, including the many members of the public who had submitted on it throughout.

Councillor Walker says while the Proposed RPS didn’t set rules itself, it would greatly influence district and regional plans which contain the rules around how people, businesses and industry use Northland’s resources.

Information about the Proposed RPS – and the next steps in the process – is available from the council’s website at www.nrc.govt.nz/newRPS

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