The beaten path of planning rules is well trodden but can quickly lead you off track if you don't have proper guidelines in place, as Hastings District Council has discovered in allowing a walking track to be cut up the eastern face of Te Mata Peak.
Despite many flags in its district plan (DP) to do with the peak, HDC failed to consult with those who most deserved a hearing - local Maori - apparently only because they weren't strictly required to do so.
And let's be clear: this didn't happen ad hoc. No-one buys a property to do a specific thing – as Craggy Range Winery did to build the track - without thoroughly checking first whether they'll be allowed to do it.
Given (on the winery's side) the money involved, and given (on council's) the scheme would affect "the single most significant landscape icon in Hawke's Bay" (as the DP states), this was a carefully thought-out and dare I say it pre-approved concept; indeed Te Mata Peak's status indicates this was probably signed off by senior management or even the CEO.
That's actually fairly normal practice. There may be fiddling and fixing to follow, but it's quite usual for a commercial outfit to get rule-of-thumb pre-approval – because they want surety before they invest.