Proposed district plan
The council is reviewing the current District Plan. This is the set of rules that control where you can undertake certain activities, and how land can be used, developed and subdivided. The District Plan affects all landowners and residents in the Far North.
On the 11 June 2026 the Far North District Council approved the release of its decisions on submissions to the Proposed District Plan (PDP).
The Council notified decisions on the Proposed District Plan on 30 June 2026, people who made a submission on the Proposed District Plan had the ability to appeal to the Environment Court.
In total, 32 appeals to decisions on the PDP have been made to the Environment Court.
Far North District Council does not conduct the appeal process and is a party to the proceedings. Direct any correspondence on the process to the Environment Court.
The Appeals Version of the PDP shows which provisions are subject to appeal. These are identified with an orange dashed border and exclamation icon on the right-hand side. Mapped features subject to appeal are also identified on the planning map with an orange dashed polygon.
Provisions that are not appealed will be treated as 'operative', replacing equivalent provisions in the operative plan. If there are live appeals against a proposed provision, the proposed provision and any equivalent operative provisions may need to be considered through the resource consent process.
The council will update the Appeals Version of the PDP as appeals are resolved and will publish further updates as additional provisions are treated as operative.
Guidance on how to interpret and apply the Operative and Proposed District Plans during this transitional period is provided in the council decisions on submissions tile below.
Transitional consenting changes
Changes to the Resource Management Act 1991 regarding transitional resource consenting arrangements in preparation for the new planning system are taking effect from 30 October 2026. This affects the matters Council can consider when assessing certain district land use resource consent applications. As a result, some provisions of the Proposed District Plan may be affected by section 104(1A), either wholly or in part.
Council is progressively reviewing the Proposed District Plan to identify affected provisions. Within affected chapters, provisions or parts of provisions identified as affected are highlighted in grey, with italicised notes providing further guidance where required.
As this review is ongoing, the absence of highlighting or an explanatory note should not be taken to mean that a provision is unaffected.
For more information about the changes, how they affect the Proposed District Plan, and how the ePlan annotations should be interpreted, see the Transitional Consenting Guidance.
