Email the form to
districtplan@waipadc.govt.nz.
What is Proposed Plan Change 25?
Proposed Plan Change 25 – Shelterbelts and Artificial Crop Protection and Support Structures (PC25) seeks to amend provisions in the Rural Zone of the Operative Waipā District Plan that relate to shelterbelts and crop protection/support structures associated with farming activities, mainly horticulture.
The objectives of the plan change are to ensure:
- The efficient and effective use of rural land for farming purposes is maintained
- Adverse effects on the environment arising from shelterbelts and artificial crop protection structures are appropriately mitigated
- That the District Plan accounts from the changing land use pattern in a manner consistent with national direction (National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land)
- Avoidance of unnecessary resource consent requirements.
Submissions are now closed.
PC25 was publicly notified on Thursday, January 15, 2026 for public submission. The submission period closed on Friday, February 20, 2026.Other ways to provide your feedback
There are multiple ways you can make a submission.
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Email
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Post
Post the completed form to:
Waipā District Council, Freepost 167662, Private Bag 2402,
Te Awamutu 3840 -
In person
Bring the completed form into one of our offices
- 101 Bank Street, Te Awamutu
- 23 Wilson Street, Cambridge
Background
Traditionally, the Waipā District has had a primarily pastoral farming environment, with some horticulture. These are both 'farming activities' under the District Plan. More recently, climate change and a need to diversify has seen horticulture become more common in the district. With this, the need for shelterbelts and artificial crop protection and support structures have increased in the Rural Zone.
The District Plan has provisions for ‘farming activities’, these include:
- Crop protection and support structures are deemed to be a building for the purposes of the bulk and location standards (e.g. setbacks from boundaries, height, site coverage) and are associated with the permitted farming activities.
- Shelterbelts are controlled by the maximum height a shelterbelt plant species can grow to – being 6 metres.
- Crop protection and support structures, and in certain instances for shelterbelts, require resource consent when located in identified landscape areas.
Community, industry, and council have raised concerns regarding the effectiveness of these provisions, and how the flow-on effects from these structures and shelterbelts should be managed and mitigated.
The intent of Plan Change 25 is to address these concerns and provide greater certainty on how crop protection (crop structures and shelterbelts) can occur in the Rural Zone.
What was done prior to notification?
Council lodged an exemption application with the Minister for the Environment on October 2, 2025.
On November 7, 2025, Council’s exemption application was approved in full by the Hon. Chris Bishop, Minister Responsible for Resource Management Reform.
