Board of Inquiry to consider Ruakura Development Plan Change request

Environment Minister Amy Adams has today announced that the Ruakura Development Plan Change request will be directed to an independent Board of Inquiry.

Tainui Group Holdings Limited and Chedworth Properties Limited have requested the plan change in relation to the operative Hamilton City District Plan: Waikato Section.

The plan change is for new planning policies and rules to enable mixed-use development at Ruakura near Hamilton. This includes an inland port, industrial activities, commercial uses, medium-density housing and an integrated network of green space.

Ms Adams accepted the Environmental Protection Authority’s recommendation that the plan change is part of a proposal of national significance and has referred the request to a Board of Inquiry for a decision.

The plan change request was nationally significant as part of Tainui Group Holdings and Chedworth Properties master development proposal for Ruakura over the next 30 to 50 years.

The Board must deliver its decision within nine months but it must first decide whether to accept the plan change request for processing.

“The board of inquiry process will give people directly affected by the proposal an opportunity to have their say,” Ms Adams says.

A Board will be appointed in due course to consider the plan change request.

The Board runs its own process and makes its decision independently of the Environmental Protection Authority and the Minister.