Over the past few years there has been a number of changes to the Operative District Plan in the Franklin area.

The most significant change is referred to as Change 14 and relates to the rural area of the district including all villages.

At present most of the alterations contained in this document are being processed in the Environmental Court, although some changes have already been accepted and are applicable to future developments. The new restrictions mainly relate to the size of sections.

Another major change is the adjustment of local authority boundaries resulting in the Franklin District being divided between three councils.

The northern portion is now part of Auckland Council, while the southern part has joined Waikato District and a smaller eastern area is now part of Hauraki District.

These three councils are required to administer the existing Operative District Plan in a manner, which would have occurred if the Franklin District was still in existence. This also applies to new rules introduced by Change 14.

In time the three councils will produce Operative District Plans for those areas included within their particular council areas.

Their development criteria may differ from the existing Operative District Plan to the point where subdivision and development activities will be different.

The above is demonstrated by the attitude adopted by planning consultants employed by Auckland Council in negotiating Change 14.

There is evidence that they have been instructed to devise a plan, which will limit both development and subdivision within the original Franklin area.

This is being achieved by altering the existing provisions for: conservation lots, the elimination of general purpose lots, and intensive use lots.

The replacement rules are based on the transfer of existing titles with severe restrictions, relating to the ability to move titles between certain areas.

This restriction will make title movement into areas of greater demand non-compliant.

A similar situation will arise for conservation areas. The minimum size of these is expected to increase to the point where few areas comply with the requirements.

This also applies to the possibility of creating areas where enhancement has occurred. Both the size of the title and the requirement for enhancement is larger than expected.

The adjustment of title boundaries, which at present do not have restriction on size, is likely to be controlled by the change to a maximum of 10% of the smaller area.

We suggest property owners situated in these rural areas, or those contained within the village boundaries, who have future plans for development or subdivision, should consult a surveyor to obtain the latest information on the progress of Change 14 as well as any other changes to the District Plans.

It is possible to obtain council’s consent to a subdivisional proposal with the possibility of holding an approval for up to 8 years from the date of the consent.

A small investment at this stage could be of considerable benefit after the existing rules have been changed or new rules introduced. It is perhaps best to activate the development now as it may not be possible to do so in the future.

- Dan Madsen is a partner with Madsen Lawrie Consultants Ltd, Pukekohe.