A number of natural areas in the district could be classed as significant if a new plan change takes effect.
Rotorua Lakes Council agreed to approve Plan Change 3 for public notification at a council meeting today.The proposed change would see 48 new significant natural areas or extensions to existing areas, 10 new geothermal significant natural areas and boundary changes to nine existing ones, boundary reviews on nine properties and the removal of some significant natural areas due to alternative protections.
Significant natural areas can be in both public areas and on private property.
The proposal came about following work on the Rotorua District Plan in 2012 which saw the council's first set of significant natural areas notified. A decision on those was released in 2014.
At that time the council committed to investigating more than 50 extra sites which had been identified by ecologists and in 2016 the council commissioned Wildlands to assess those sites.