Plan Change 50 - Rural Review

Current status: Council resolved to withdraw PC50 on 10 December 2025. A public notice for the withdrawal can be viewed below in the documents table. Please see the December update for further information on the reasons for the plan change to be withdrawn.

Proposed Plan Change 50 – Rural Review (PC50) is part of the rolling review of the District Plan and seeks to implement national and regional direction while considering the local rural context in Upper Hutt.

What is PC50?

PC50 includes the development of zone-specific provisions for the General Rural, Rural Production, Rural Lifestyle, and Settlement Zones. The proposed objectives, policies, and rules have been developed and tailored for each of the zones, considering their purpose and character, and what activities and the level of development are considered to be appropriate within each zone, including changes to subdivision standards and relevant planning maps. PC50 also introduces the Staglands precinct, Berketts farm precinct and the Clay Target Club acoustic overlay.

PC50 has taken into consideration the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL). The rural environment of Upper Hutt has land which is considered to be highly productive land as it falls under classes 2 and 3 of the Land Use Capability assessment carried out by Landcare Research (Manaaki Whenua). This land will generally be zoned Rural Production unless it is already highly fragmented through subdivision or development.

Update - December 2025

At the Council meeting on 10 December 2025, Upper Hutt City Council decided to withdraw PC50.

This decision to withdraw means that PC50 will not proceed further under the Resource Management Act 1991 and has no ongoing effect on you or your property. The existing District Plan continues to be Operative, and all existing rules, zoning, and provisions continue to apply.

The reasons for this withdrawal are:

Recent and ongoing reform of the Resource Management Act, which is changing the national planning framework and introduces uncertainty;
The significant financial implications and legal risk of continuing the plan change.

Submissions received on PC50 will not be considered further. Submitters will be advised of this decision.

A public notice notifying the withdrawal was published in The Dominion Post on 17 December 2025. A copy of this notice is available below.

Update - September 2025

In our June update, we identified that Council decided to pause hearings and request a 12-month extension on Plan Change 50, in order to incorporate the anticipated changes to the National Policy Statement to Highly Productive Land.

The Minister for the Environment granted this extension on 12 August, extending the time frame for decision making on Plan Change 50 to the 4 October 2026. The letter from the Minister granting this extension and the Public Notice published in the Dominion Post on Wednesday 3 September 2025, can be found in the documents table below.

It is important to note, this extension sits within a broader context of recent changes to the Resource Management Act 1991, including the Plan Stop amendment.

This extension provides Council time to consider the impact of the Plan Stop amendments on Plan Change 50.

A decision on whether to pursue an exemption for Plan Change 50 will not be made until after the local government election in October 2025

For further information and detail on this legislation change please see the Ministry for the Environment - Understanding Plan Stop webpage.

Update - June 2025

We're preparing for hearings—but recent government changes are likely to significantly affect PC50.

The Government is reforming the Resource Management system, including new rules around Highly Productive Land which have been released for public consultation. You can view the information here https://environment.govt.nz/publications/package-2-primary-sector-discussion-document/

A key change is that Class 3 soils will no longer be protected, giving councils more flexibility.

These changes directly affect how we manage rural zoning, subdivision, and land use.

To make sure all submissions and the plan remain relevant, Council has:

Requested a 12-month extension (until October 2026) to incorporate the national changes.
Decided to pause hearings until the new national policy statement changes are finalised.

Update - November 2024

We have prepared the 242 further submissions and are releasing them in full as received. To find your or another Further Submitter name and number, please refer to our list of Further Submitters below in the table.

We are still awaiting further Government direction on potential changes to the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL) and still intend to hold a hearing for this plan change in 2025.

Update - October 2024

Further submissions closed on 26 June 2024. We received 242 further submissions.

In addition to analysing these submissions and the issues therein, we are awaiting further Government direction on potential changes to the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL).

Subject to clarity on these potential changes, we intend to hold a hearing in 2025.

Update - June 2024

On Wednesday 29 May 2024 Upper Hutt City Council publicly notified the Summary of Submissions on Proposed Plan Change 50 to the Upper Hutt City Council District Plan 2004, and the period for further submission was due to close at 5pm on Thursday 13 June 2024.

We were then made aware of a submission that wasn’t included in the summary of submissions or published in full due to a transmission issue. This submission relates to provisions across Plan Change 50 and is Submission 257: Transpower New Zealand Limited.

Because of the broad-reaching scope of Submission 257 and taking into account the number of primary submissions and complexity and extent of Plan Change 50, Council then extended the time frame for making further submissions on Plan Change 50 to the Upper Hutt City District Plan 2004 to 5 pm on 26 June 2024.

All further Submissions which had already been lodged with Council will be reviewed and fully considered as part of the hearing process. These earlier further submissions did not need to be re-lodged. If a submitter wished to amend an earlier further submission; or file an additional further submission in relation to any submission (not just Submission 257), this is was possible as long as it was received by 5 pm 26 June 2024.

A link to summary of submissions, including Submission #257, is below under “Summary of Submissions” and “Full Submissions”. Please also see “Consultation – May 2024” below for further details on the Further Submissions consultation.

Consultation - May 2024

Consultation for PC50 closed on 17 November 2023 and we received 256 submissions.

We have finalised our summary the of submissions made on the PC50 and are now asking the community to review the summaries and make a further submission on the decisions which have been requested by submitters.

We have prepared summaries by submitter and also by topics, these can be found in the table below. To find your submitter number please refer to our list of submitters: Full-list-of-submitters.pdf(PDF, 175KB)

Of the 256 submissions received, 39 of these submissions requested a change of zoning, from what was proposed under PC50.

To ensure the public has a good understanding of what these change of zoning requests might mean for them (as neighbours and the wider community) we have mapped each of these submissions.

Map viewer for rezoning requests

In summarising the submissions and preparing the maps, we have sought to capture the intent of the original submission whilst making sure that the summary can be easily understood by the public.

Making a further submission

Further submissions can be made by anyone in the community with an interest in PC50, for example anyone who lives, works, or volunteers in the area. If you decide to make a further submission, you will also need to send a copy to the person who made the original submission no later than five working days after you submit it to us.

Further submissions must be completed on the Further Submission Form (Form 6), must state whether or not you wish to be heard on your submission and can only be made on a matter in support of, or opposition to, an original submission. Word and PDF copies of Form 6 can be found in the table below.

You may make further submissions electronically or in writing to the Council in the following ways:

Online: letskorero.upperhuttcity.com/pc50-rural-chapter-review
In person: Upper Hutt City Council, 838 – 842 Fergusson Drive, Upper Hutt
Post: Proposed Plan Change 50, Upper Hutt City Council, Private Bag 907, Upper Hutt, 5140
Email: planning@uhcc.govt.nz

If you need any assistance with the submission process or wish to discuss PC50 further, please get in touch with the Planning team on (04) 527 2169 or email planning@uhcc.govt.nz

The Ministry for Environment also has a submission guide which may be helpful to making your submission: https://environment.govt.nz/assets/Publications/Files/3.2-making-a-submission.pdf

Further submissions close at 5 pm, 26 June 2024.

Consultation - October 2023

Upper Hutt City Council publicly notified proposed Plan Change 50 – Rural Review (PC50) in the Upper Hutt Leader on 4th October 2023. We had feedback from the Community that a longer submission period would be favourable, therefore the submission period has now was extended by 2 weeks (from 3 November 2023 to 17 November 2023). This time extension was publicly notified in the Leader on 25 October 2023.

Consultation formally closed on 17 November 2023.

View the Operative District Plan Zoning vs. Proposed Zoning map below

View proposed zone mapping

You can also view the full proposed zoning and provisions in the table below.

Alternatively you can use the District Plan e-Plan. The best way to view this is to:

Add an address to the search bar at the top of the screen
Untick the current map layers on the right (under Map Tools) and just tick "Proposed Plan Change 50 - Rural Review"
Click on View Full District Plan on the left hand side
Click on "Select to view plan changes on or post consultation" in the dashed line box and choose "Proposed Plan Change 50 - Rural Review"
The provisions are on the left, just use the drop down arrows to show options

STAGE	STATUS	DOCUMENTS
Withdrawal	Council decided at the Council meeting on 10 December 2025 to withdraw PC50	Public notice PC50 - Public notice for withdrawal(PDF, 32KB) Officers report on PC50 withdrawal Plan Stop Next Steps for Plan Change 50(PDF, 739KB) Attachment 1 - Plan Change 50 resource costs and financial implications(PDF, 170KB) Attachment 2 - Implications of next steps for PC50 Pros and cons(PDF, 276KB) Attachment 3 - Partial exemption scope Option 3A and B(PDF, 4MB) Attachment 4 - Plan change actions of other Councils across New Zealand(PDF, 308KB) Attachment 5 - Plan and Policy Statement Stop Exemption Application Template(PDF, 362KB) Attachment 6 - Exemption Criteria(PDF, 182KB) Attachment 7 - Flowchart explaining the Plan Stop process for proposed planning instruments which have been notified(PDF, 193KB) Attachment 8 - Process for exemption applications(PDF, 182KB)
Timeframe Extension	Extension granted on 12 August, extending timeframe to 4 October 2026	Letter from the Minister (PDF, 41KB)Letter from the Minister for the Environment granting extension(PDF, 334KB) Public Notice notifying extension (PDF, 41KB)PC50 - Public Notice Extension.pdf(PDF, 29KB)
Further Submissions	Further submissions opened on 29 May 2024 and closed on 26 June 2024.	Further Submissions List of Further submissions(PDF, 141KB) For copies of any submissions please contact the Planning Team - planning@uhcc.govt.nz or call (04) 527 2169
Submissions	Submissions opened on 4 October 2023 and closed on 17 November 2023.	Summary of Submissions Summary of submissions by submitter number(PDF, 3MB) Summary of submission by topic(PDF, 3MB) For copies of any submissions please contact the Planning Team - planning@uhcc.govt.nz or call (04) 527 2169 List of Submitters List of submitters(PDF, 175KB)
Notification		Forms and Public Notices Public notice(PDF, 166KB) Public notice for time extension(PDF, 46KB) Form 5 (word)(DOCX, 61KB) Form 5 (PDF)(PDF, 136KB) Section 32 and supporting documents Section 32 report(PDF, 15MB) Proposed provisions(PDF, 12MB)

Background

Draft PC50 started in 2019 and in December 2021 was separated into the Intensification Planning Instrument (IPI) for residential areas and PC50 rural review. Draft PC50 had several public engagement periods. The engagement materials and feedback from these periods and the background documents are available below or you can visit the Draft PC50 (2021) webpage.

Background documents (Previous Engagements)

Draft Rural Objectives, Policies and Provisions

Rural Objectives and Policies (Draft PC50 2021)(PDF, 706KB)

Provisions for rural zones, precincts and development plan areas(PDF, 1MB)

Feedback

Feedback on the PC50 draft proposals was open until 13 September 2021, providing the public close to eight weeks to review material and give feedback. The report below summarises the feedback received during this period of time

PC50 public engagement report (Both residential and rural)(PDF, 2MB)