Coastal Plan Review Process / Taranaki Regional Council

Here's where you can find out about the Coastal Plan review process.

Between 2017 and 2023 the Council reviewed its first generation Regional Coastal Plan and undertook a fulsome engagement process with tangata whenua, stakeholders and the wider community.

The timeline below identifies the major stages in the review process:

September 2016 – the Council released a draft Coastal Plan for public review. 101 responses were received.
February 2018 – the Council notified the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki and called for submissions. 61 submissions were received.
July 2018 – the Council released the summary of submissions received and called for further submissions. 25 further submissions were received.
October 2018 - March 2019 – Council staff met with submitters and further submitters in pre-hearing meetings to inform officer recommendations to submissions.
April 2019 - the Council released its section 42A report on submissions and draft track changes version of the plan.
July 2019 – August 2019 – the Councils hearing panel heard 15 submitters at a formal hearing of submissions.
October 2019 the Council adopted the recommendations of the hearing panel and the Council notified its decisions on submissions and called for any appeals to be lodged with the Environment Court.
November 2019 – 10 appeals were received and 19 parties were involved in proceedings under s274 of the RMA.
February 2020 – November 2022 – Environment Court mediation proceedings. During the mediation process, appeal points are either dropped, or relief agreed to via Environment Court consent orders. All appeal points are addressed without the need for an Environment Court hearing.
June 2023 the Minister of Conservation approves the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki without amendments.
August 2023 – The operative date of the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki is publicly notified and the Plan is made operative on 4 September 2023.

To find out more about the review process and to see previous versions of the Proposed Plan, related documents or supporting reports, see the relevant sections below:

Adoption of the Proposed Coastal Plan

Following the conclusion of Environment Court proceedings, the Council adopted the Proposed Plan, submitted the plan to the Minister of Conservation for the Ministers Approval and then notified the date on which the Proposed Plan would become operative. The following documents record this process:

Memorandum of Council resolving to adopt the Proposed Coastal Plan:
- Agenda item [PDF, 7.8 MB]
- Minutes [PDF, 2 MB]
Letter of approval for the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki from the Minister of Conservation [PDF, 217 KB]
Public notice of operative date of the Propose Coastal Plan for Taranaki [PDF, 95 KB]

Environment Court process

The Environment Court received appeals from 10 parties on the Proposed Plan and notices from 19 parties wishing to be party to appeals under section 274 of the Resource Management Act 1991.

The Council, appellants and s274 parties worked collaboratively and productively under the direction of the Environment Court and all appeals were resolved by Environment Court consent order without the need for an Environment Court hearing.

For more information on the Environment Court process, please see the Environment Court website(external link).

Environment Court orders and decisions on the Proposed Coastal Plan:

Appeals and Section 274 parties

Appeals | Parties to proceedings

Appeals have been lodged by 10 parties:

Submitter (submitter No.)	Documentation
Climate Justice Taranaki (21)	Climate Justice notice of appeal [PDF, 5.5 MB]
Transpower (26)	Transpower notice of appeal [PDF, 22 MB]
Grant Knuckey (28)	Grant Knuckey notice of appeal [PDF, 2.4 MB]
Department of Conservation (29)	DOC notice of appeal [PDF, 511 KB]
NZ Defence Force (33)	NZDF notice of appeal [PDF, 11 MB]
Petroleum Exploration & Production Assoc of NZ (37)	PEPANZ notice of appeal [PDF, 11 MB]
Te Korowai o Ngāruahine Trust (41)	Ngāruahine notice of appeal [PDF, 6 MB]
Royal Forest & Bird (43)	Forest & Bird notice of appeal [PDF, 8.7 MB]
Fonterra (47)	Fonterra notice of appeal [PDF, 1.1 MB]
Taranaki Energy Watch (51)	Energy Watch notice of appeal [PDF, 6 MB]

These entities have advised they wish to be parties to the proceedings under Section 274 of the RMA:

Fishing industry parties (Fisheries Inshore NZ, NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council, Pāua Industry Council)
Federated Farmers	Fonterra
Greenpeace	Kiwis Against Seabed Mining
Minister of Conservation	Minister of Defence
Minister of Fisheries	Ngaa Rauru
Oil companies (Z Energy Ltd, BP Oil NZ Ltd, Mobil Oil NZ Ltd)
Petroleum Exploration and Production Association New Zealand
Port Taranaki Ltd	Powerco Ltd
Royal Forest and Bird Society	South Taranaki District Council
Spark NZ Ltd	Taranaki Energy Watch
Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd	Transpower NZ Ltd

Council decisions on Proposed Coastal Plan

On 5 October 2019, the Council publicly notified its decisions regarding submissions, further submissions and the Hearing Panel’s recommendations on the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki.

See the public notice [JPG, 279 KB]

The Council made the following documents available:

Council's report on submissions on Proposed Coastal Plan [PDF, 4.5 MB]

Council's decsions on the Proposed Coastal Plan - tracked-changes version [PDF, 7.1 MB]

Council's decisions on the Proposed Coastal Plan - 'clean' version incorporating changes [PDF, 6.8 MB]

Amended maps for the Coastal Plan can be found on our LocalMaps website under 'Proposed Coastal Plan Amendments 2019':

Amended maps for Proposed Coastal Plan(external link)

Hearing documents and maps

A Council Hearings Committee heard submissiond on the Proposed Coastal Plan in August and September 2018.
Prior to the hearing, the Council made available the following documents that indicated officers' positions on matters raised in the submissions and the further submissions:

Documents

Tracked-change version of Proposed Coastal Plan for hearing [PDF, 8.3 MB]

Section 42A report for the hearing [PDF, 4.8 MB]

(The Proposed Plan documents include links to an online maps portal that does not currently incorporate the recommended changes. Please refer instead to these maps that have been prepared for the hearing.)

Maps

See maps index (includes legend) [JPG, 1.7 MB]

Download maps index (includes legend) [PDF, 1.9 MB]

Maps 1-11 [PDF, 10 MB]

Maps 12-22 [PDF, 8.3 MB]

Maps 23-33 [PDF, 8.3 MB]

Maps 34-46 [PDF, 9.4 MB]

(These maps cover the entire Taranaki coastline from north to south. The exact location of each map can be seen in the index, which also has a legend explaining the colours, shadings and symbols used on the maps.)

Officers' draft report on submissions

This report summarised the decisions sought in submissions on the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki and made preliminary recommendations on the Taranaki Regional Council’s responses to those submissions. The recommendations presented in this report are officer recommendations prior to formal consideration by the Council.

Draft report on decisions [PDF, 3.9 MB]

Submissions and further submissions

The Taranaki Regional Council received 61 submissions and 25 further submissions on the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki

Submissions | Summary of submissions | Further submissions

Submissions

Submissions as one document, or in sections organised alphabetically (individuals listed according to first letter of surname):

Public submissions on Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki - full document [PDF, 17 MB]

See alphabetical index of submitters [JPG, 91 KB]

Coastal Plan submissions A-F [PDF, 2 MB]

Coastal Plan submissions G-L [PDF, 1.3 MB]

Coastal Plan submissions M-R [PDF, 8.9 MB]

Coastal Plan submissions S-Z [PDF, 5.8 MB]

Summary of submissions

This document summarises the decisions sought in the 61 public submissions on the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki.

Proposed Coastal Plan submissions summary [PDF, 2.4 MB]

;Further submissions

Download the 25 further submissions as one document

Further submissions on Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki [PDF, 6.8 MB]

Proposed Plan and related documents

Proposed Plan | Maps | Information sheets | Evaluation report

Proposed Coastal Plan

Download the Plan itself as a complete document, and schedules and appendices as separate documents.

Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki [PDF, 4.5 MB]

Index of schedules [PDF, 399 KB]

Shedule 1 - Coastal management areas [PDF, 212 KB]

Schedule 2 - Coastal areas of outstanding value [PDF, 918 KB]

Schedule 3 - Coastal water quality [PDF, 147 KB]

Schedule 4A - Significant species and ecosystems [PDF, 940 KB]

Schedule 4B - Sensitive marine benthic habitats [PDF, 183 KB]

Schedule 5A - Archaeological sites of significance and historic areas [PDF, 286 KB]

Schedule 5B - Sites of significance to Māori and associated values (Ngāti Tama) [PDF, 425 KB]

Schedule 5B - Sites of significance to Māori and associated values (Ngāti Mutunga) [PDF, 388 KB]

Schedule 5B - Sites of significance to Māori and associated values (Te Atiawa) [PDF, 709 KB]

Schedule 5B - Sites of significance to Māori and associated values (Taranaki Iwi) [PDF, 719 KB]

Schedule 5B - Sites of significance to Māori and associated values (Ngāruahine) [PDF, 397 KB]

Schedule 5B - Sites of significance to Māori and associated values (Ngāti Ruanui) [PDF, 270 KB]

Schedule 5B - Sites of significance to Māori and associated values (Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi) [PDF, 571 KB]

Schedule 6 - Coastal sites with significant amenity values [PDF, 404 KB]

Schedule 7A - Nationally, regionally and locally significant surf breaks [PDF, 406 KB]

Schedule 7B - Significant Surfing Area [PDF, 103 KB]

Schedule 8 - Port air zone [PDF, 309 KB]

Schedule 9 - Documents incorporated by reference [PDF, 249 KB]

Appendices [PDF, 2.4 MB]

Maps

An interactive map portal allows online inspection of the maps associated with the Proposed Coastal Plan. An information sheet in PDF format explains how to use the portal. Click/tap on the links:

Online map portal for Proposed Coastal Plan(external link)

Using the online map portal [PDF, 1.6 MB]

Links to individual maps are also incorporated in the main body of the Plan and its schedules. The maps are also available as PDFs. The 44 maps cover the entire Taranaki coastline from north to south. The exact location of each map can be seen in the index, which also has a legend explaining the colours, shadings and symbols used on the maps.

Maps index (includes legend) [PDF, 566 KB]

Maps 1 to 11 [PDF, 8.4 MB]

Maps 12 to 22 [PDF, 10 MB]

Maps 23 to 33 [PDF, 8.6 MB]

Maps 34 to 44 [PDF, 7 MB]

Information sheets

The 'what, why and how' of the Proposed Coastal Plan for Taranaki [PDF, 906 KB]

Where does the Proposed Coastal Plan apply? [PDF, 1016 KB]

Protecting a surf break: What does it mean? [PDF, 101 KB]

Surf breaks and the 'Significant Surfing Area' [PDF, 1.6 MB]

Using the online maps portal [PDF, 1.6 MB]

Evaluation report