Proposed Change 8 (NPS-HPL)

What is Proposed Change 8 (NPS-HPL)?

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Toi Moana is developing a change to the operative Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement (RPS) to implement the National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land 2022 (NPS-HPL). This change is called Proposed Change 8 (NPS-HPL).

The NPS-HPL requires an RPS change to include maps identifying all highly productive land in the region. This must be publicly notified for submissions no later than 17 October 2025. 

The NPS-HPL requires New Zealand’s most productive land is identified and protected by Regional Policy Statements and District Plans. This is to ensure that it is protected for ongoing use in land-based primary production while avoiding inappropriate subdivision, use and development.  Land-based primary production means production from agricultural, pastoral, horticultural, or forestry activities, that is reliant on soil resource.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council will be preparing maps of highly productive land in the region for inclusion in the Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement (RPS).  

In addition to mapping highly productive land in the RPS, Proposed Change 8 (NPS-HPL) will involve amending all ‘versatile land’ references to instead refer to ‘highly productive land’.  Other amendments to the existing RPS rural growth management provisions may also be necessary to align with the NPS-HPL.

What do we mean by highly productive land?

Highly productive land has been mapped as Land Use Capability classes 1, 2 and 3 by the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory and has a rural production or general rural zone (in the relevant city or district plan).  It excludes land that on 17 October 2022 was identified for future urban development or subject to a Council initiated, or an adopted, notified plan change to rezone it from general rural or rural production to urban or rural lifestyle. 

The high-level map below demonstrates highly productive land in the Bay of Plenty region.  Note it doesn’t exclude areas currently zoned urban or rural lifestyle.

For the purpose of mapping highly productive land in the RPS the NPS-HPL defines highly productive land as:

1. In a general rural zone or rural production zone; and
2. Predominantly Land Use Capability classes 1, 2 or 3 land; and
3. Forms a large and geographically cohesive area.

What are general rural or rural production zones?

District and city plans use different terms for general rural or rural production zone.  If a zone provides issues, objectives, policies and rules that enable or provide for rural production activities as a predominant activity, then it will be considered as meeting the criteria in a) above.  For example, the Ōpōtiki District Plan Coastal Zones includes Objective 9.2.5 which states: ‘Enable rural production activities in the Coastal Zone.’   It includes policies that guide actions toward providing for rural production activities recognising they are integral to and contribute to the rural use of the Coastal zone while seeking to avoid reverse sensitivity effects on them.  It also provides for farming as a permitted activity in the zone. 

Similarly, the Ōhiwa Harbour Zone recognises land in the zone is used for farming and horticulture which have operational requirements which need to be provided for [1]. Policy 11.2.1.5 provides for the continued operation of farming and horticulture and recognise their contribution to rural character and farming is provided for as a permitted activity [2].

[1] Resource management issue 11.1.1.10, pg 194 of the Operative Ōpōtiki District Plan 2021.
[2] Rule 11.3.2.1.1, pg 197 of the Operative Ōpōtiki District Plan 2021.

Highly productive land that won’t be mapped in the RPS

Highly productive land in urban zones or areas identified for future urban development will not be mapped in the RPS.  Areas identified for future urban development means land identified in a published Future Development Strategy as suitable for commencing urban development over the next 10 years or identified:

1. In a strategic planning document as an area suitable for commencing urban development over the next 10 years; and
2. At a level of detail that makes the boundaries of the area identifiable in practice.

A strategic planning document means any non-statutory growth plan or strategy adopted by local authority resolution by the 17 October 2022.

Highly productive land in areas subject to urban zones will not be mapped in the RPS.  The NPS-HPL defines what urban zones encompass which means any of the following zones:

(a) low density residential, general residential, medium density residential, large lot residential, and high density residential
(b) settlement, neighbourhood centre, local centre, town centre, metropolitan centre, and city centre
(c) commercial, large format retail, and mixed use
(d) light industrial, heavy industrial, and general industrial
(e) any special purpose zone, other than a Māori Purpose zone
(f) any open space zone, other than a Natural Open Space zone
(g) sport and active recreation.

Highly Productive Land - online ‘Webviewer’ tool

To assist with mapping requirements Toi Moana has developed an online HPL Webviewer. The HPL Webviewer assists with identifying whether land of interest contains highly productive land and will need to be mapped in the RPS.  The Webviewer includes spatial layers of highly productive land - Land Use Capability (LUC) classes 1 (shown green), 2 (shown blue) and 3 (shown pink).

Land zoned general rural or rural production and contains highly productive land (i.e. Land Use Capability classes 1, 2 or 3) will be mapped in the RPS.

Note: while care has been taken to ensure the relevant rural zones from district plans are accurately depicted on the HPL Webviewer we recommend checking land shown as zoned rural against the relevant district plan zone maps. Where a discrepancy exists the district plan maps will take precedence.

Specified Māori Land and the NPS-HPL

The NPS-HPL exempts Specified Māori Land from restrictions on subdivision, use or development.  The NPS-HPL defines ‘specified Māori land’ as land that is any of the following:

(a) Māori customary land or Māori freehold land (as defined in Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993):
(b) land vested in the Māori Trustee that—
   - is constituted as a Māori reserve by or under the Māori Reserved Land Act 1955; and
   - remains subject to that Act:
(c) land set apart as a Māori reservation under Part 17 of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 or its predecessor, the Māori Affairs Act 1953:
(d) land that forms part of a natural feature that has been declared under an Act to be a legal entity or person (including Te Urewera land within the meaning of section 7 of the Te Urewera Act 2014):
(e) the maunga listed in section 10 of the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014:
(f) land held by or on behalf of an iwi or hapū if the land was transferred from the Crown, a Crown body, or a local authority with the intention of returning the land to the holders of the mana whenua over the land.

Although the NPS-HPL does not restrict the type of activities that can occur on specified Māori land, proposed development or activities should minimise the actual and cumulative loss of highly productive land and not adversely affect the productive use of highly productive land on neighbouring sites.

National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (2022)

More information on the NPS-HPL can be found on the Ministry for the Environment's website.

Draft RPS Highly Productive Land Maps for the region

Draft RPS Highly Productive Land maps have been developed and are available below. The maps are based on the areas of Land Use Capability classes 1, 2 and 3 mapped in the online HPL Webviewer.

Proposed Change 8 (NPS-HPL) will likely be notified for submission in mid-2025. If you want to discuss the proposed change and draft maps we can arrange a meeting at a time and venue (either in person or virtually) that suits you.