District plan review

The submissions period for Lower Hutt’s Proposed District Plan has closed. Council policy planning staff are currently summarising the decisions requested by submitters. This summary will be published in late May/early June 2025.

The following people will then be able to make a further submission either supporting or opposing an original submission:

• any person representing a relevant aspect of the public interest
• any person that has an interest in the Proposed District Plan greater than the interest the general public has, and
• the Council itself.

The summary of decisions requested and further submission process are legal requirements under Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act.

Hearings for the Proposed District Plan, with an independent hearing panel, will begin towards the end of 2025. These hearings will continue into 2026. Any person who has made a submission and indicated that they wish to be heard in support of their submission will be able to present at the hearing.

Following the hearings, the independent hearing panel will make recommendations to Hutt City Council. Ultimately, Council will make a decision on each submission and notify the submitters of the decision and the reasons behind it. Submitters then have the option of appealing those decisions to the Environment Court if they wish.

The District Plan is our rulebook for land use and development that helps us manage infrastructure constraints and natural hazards, respond to climate change and protect the environment and our historic and cultural taonga. It sets out what is permitted and where, and what needs resource consent.

Following a full review and public feedback on a draft in late 2023, the Proposed District Plan was open for submissions for three months in early 2025. Check out the topic overviews below, which include links to the relevant chapters, or view the full plan here, where you can do a search to see which zone and overlays (such as natural hazard, infrastructure and heritage) apply to any property.

Get in touch at district.plan@huttcity.govt.nz or phone (04) 570 6666 during business hours.

What's in the Proposed District Plan?

Read more about what's proposed for the different topics below.