Palmerston North City Council seeks feedback on how the city should grow

Palmerston North City Council and Horizons Regional Council are asking for help to plan Palmy's future growth. Photo / ManawatuNZ.co.nz

Palmerston North’s population is growing fast and residents are being asked for their views on how this should be managed.

Palmerston North City Council says it needs to carefully plan how to provide more space for new homes and businesses, while protecting the environment and other things that make the city a great place to live.

It is working with Horizons Regional Council to prepare a Future Development Strategy to guide how the city and wider district grow over the next 30 years. It is required to have a strategy as part of the Government’s National Policy Statement on Urban Development.

Chief planning officer David Murphy said the draft strategy being consulted on contains a lot of work already happening in the planning space.

This includes rezoning some areas within and around the city to provide more room for new housing and industry.

“It covers plans to expand the city to provide for housing and industrial use over the next 30 years, including areas like Aokautere, Kākātangiata to the southwest of the city and Te Utanganui Central New Zealand Distribution Hub to extend our current industrial zone to the northeast.”

While the city has space to grow, having a cohesive strategy for the whole city and district means valuable agricultural land can be protected and areas of risk avoided, Murphy said.

“Our draft strategy proposes a balanced approach to growing Palmy. This includes repurposing land and increasing density in some areas within the city, along with some greenfield expansion around the edges.”

The feedback period for the draft strategy has a similar timeframe to this year’s Long-Term Plan consultation. While the strategy lays out plans for growth, the Long-Term Plan sets out how they will be funded and delivered.

Elected members from both councils will deliberate and make any changes to the strategy before its adoption around the middle of 2024.

Go to pncc.govt.nz/fds to make a submission by May 5.