Activity on plains land explained

How do you get to build a holiday park on plains production land?

You get your application in before the legislation changes.

Drivers, walkers and cyclists using Havelock Rd will be aware that two sizeable lots are for sale and another is being developed as accommodation.

Eleven hectares encompassing 76, 96 and 98 Havelock Rd — otherwise known as The Strawberry Patch — is on the market, along with 142 Havelock Rd. That 4ha site has been used to grow corn previously.

In between is 114 Havelock Rd, where the Havelock North Holiday Park is under construction.

The corridor of land is zoned for plains production and theoretically protected by the National Policy Statement — Highly Productive Land. This took effect in October.

The Hastings Districts Council (HDC) stated that the land surrounding The Strawberry Patch was deemed of the highest horticultural value and could not be developed.

That hasn’t stopped development at 114 Havelock Rd, while the real estate listing for 142 Havelock Rd states that “there is a current irrigation consent for the land, a stormwater discharge consent, plus an existing resource consent for a retail and factory facility”.

The Save Our Plains lobby group is intrigued by the activity along Havelock Rd, while the HDC has sought to explain how fertile land can become a holiday park.

“The District Plan provides for commercial activities on plainszoned sites as a permitted activity up to a certain scale,” an HDC spokesperson said. “The property at 114 Havelock Rd has long-established visitor accommodation and restaurant facilities on it that were granted by means of a notified resource consent application.”

Consent for that was approved prior to the establishment of the National Policy Statement (NPS), in part because the development didn’t consist of extensive paved areas and the dwellings could be moved at a later date enabling the land to potentially revert to primary production.

“If this application was to be applied for today, however, the NPS imposes a much higher bar and it is likely to be considered “inappropriate development” under the NPS,” the spokesperson added.

Estimates vary about what the land surrounding The Strawberry Patch, for instance, might fetch when its tender closes on December 1. But it’s understood the value would be greatly enhanced if it could be zoned for development.