Westport community invited to engage on Draft Master Plan

Engagement gets underway on Monday 10 February on the Westport Draft Master Plan.

Led by Buller District Council, with funding from Resilient Westport, the Master Planning process seeks to provide a holistic road map for the community, and public and private sectors.

It aims to guide the development of areas of land for future use, creating greater choice for the community around lower-risk areas.
Members of the community have the opportunity to share their thoughts on the Draft Master Plan from 10 February to 10 March at 5pm.

Buller District Council Chief Executive Simon Pickford says this is a once-in-a-generation process to guide Westport’s future growth and development.

“We feel it’s crucial for Westport to take a big picture approach to where it’s headed in the future and how it wants to get there. Most importantly though, we understand this Draft Plan has to resonate and make sense to the people of this community.

“The Draft Plan was developed working alongside urban design experts, Isthmus. A key component of that was to hold local five stakeholder workshops or design weeks in 2024 to develop the concepts contained in the Plan to ensure it reflects and meet the needs of Westport.

“That work brought us to this point where we now want to test out the underlying principles of the work with the wider community.

“The Draft Master Plan essentially examines where Westport is now, considers its history and the values of the local community, its challenges and opportunities and looks at how things could be done in the future. This involves looking at how and why the town needs to look at lower-risk areas to grow and develop for its overall wellbeing.

“The Draft Plan breaks down how this could be achieved – starting with the community believing in its potential. We encourage people to go online to look at the information around this on the Resilient Westport website and to submit their thoughts on the Let’s Talk website (letstalk.bullerdc.govt.nz) where the survey and supporting information can be found. Paper forms can be found at the Resilient Westport office at 147 Palmerston Street, Westport (during drop-in times), the Buller District Council Westport service centre or the Sue Thomson Casey Memorial Library in Westport.

“The team are also holding extra drop-in sessions at the Resilient Westport office to be able to talk directly to people who want to know more,” says Mr Pickford.

The results of the feedback will be processed in March, after which the Master Planning Concept Plan will be completed. It will require approval by the Buller District Council. The final Stage of the Master Planning process will be implementation. A number of mechanisms can be used to implement the Master Plan, including a Special Purpose Vehicle, supporting legislation, land-use change applications and other mechanisms to assist in the delivery of the plan over time.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact:
Resilient Westport Communications team
media@resilientwestport.co.nz 

Note, drop-in times from 10 February to 10 March are:
Tuesdays: 12pm – 2pm Wednesdays: 5pm – 7pm Saturdays: 10am – 12pm.

Location: Resilient Westport Office, 147 Palmerston Street, Westport (the old BNZ building).

There will be 20-minute presentations on the hour.

The Let's talk Buller Master Planning engagement website will be live from 9am Monday 10 February.

More information on Master Planning will be available on the Resilient Westport website.