The Eastern Bay of Plenty is experiencing consistent annual population and economic growth and requires an integrated spatial plan to support and guide future planning and investment decisions.
This means we are creating a plan to set a future vision for the Whakatāne, Kawerau, and Ōpōtiki districts within the rohe of the iwi and hapū of the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
We call this 'Our Places - Eastern Bay Spatial Plan'. It outlines where the Eastern Bay of Plenty wants to head and provides a roadmap, or spatial plan, for how to get there.
Decision makers (councils, iwi partners, government agencies) use spatial plans to come up with options for the future of spaces and places - for example, how towns might spread out (or up), where to build papakāinga, where to build on the coast (and where not to), and what infrastructure (such as pipes and roads) might be needed to support growing communities.
Our Places is to ensure we provide for future needs - those of our future generations - safely and in a way that protects the taonga of the Eastern Bay, such as our bush, productive land, rivers and beaches.
The four councils consulted on the early direction and considerations to feed into the development of the Eastern Bay Spatial Plan in October and November 2024. That feedback will inform the development of a draft Plan which will be formally adopted by council in mid 2025.
