How do you see Waharoa in 10, 30 or 50 years time? Who do you imagine living there and setting up shop there? What will make it a great place to live, work and play? We've started working with Ngāti Hauā Iwi Trust on the Waharoa District Plan Change and held a hui with key stakeholders in Waharoa last year. Together we developed a draft plan for how Waharoa's houses, businesses, industry and parks and open spaces could be laid out in the future. 

Before we go any further investigating the plan change, we need to hear what the community thinks about the plan and if there are any other great ideas out there to consider. This plan change is working alongside one of Ngāti Hauā's projects to revitalise Waharoa. Your feedback will give us direction for the Plan Change and help Ngāti Hauā's work on its wider vision for Waharoa.

What is a district plan change?

The district plan is the ‘rule book’ for how land can be used and developed in the district. It lets people know where houses can be built, where shops or businesses can go, where industry can set up and what areas remain as rural land. All of these different areas are called zones and each zone has different rules about what can be done there. This helps ensure a community is a good place to live, work, play and do business.

For the plan change, we’re looking at a map of Waharoa, seeing how it’s zoned then checking whether we need to make any changes to the zones and rules to lay the foundation for any future plans to become a reality. Making a change to the plan doesn't mean things will happen but it does mean we'll make it possible for them to happen in the future.

Here's a snapshot of our Waharoa Plan Change 49 community event on 30 November. We look forward to hearing your feedback and ideas online too - thanks for taking part!

Plan Change 49 - Waharoa

What is being proposed?

Matamata-Piako District Council have been working alongside Ngāti Hauā Iwi Trust on the Waharoa Plan Change. As stated below an draft spatial plan has been developed with key stakeholders however full community consultation on this spatial plan is proposed prior to moving forward. Ngāti Hauā is working on a wider initiative that is linked to the plan change (but is a separate project), which seeks to revitalise Waharoa. 

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The Process

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Status - summary

In 2018, Council decided to progress Plan Change 49 – Waharoa as part of the rolling review of the District Plan. The plan change was placed on hold in 2019 so that Council could explore funding issues under the Provincial Growth Fund. Following conclusion of the Provincial Growth Funding Cycle, in 2020, Council resolved to recommence work on Plan Change 49-Waharoa.

In July 2021, Ngāti Hauā and MPDC staff facilitated a visioning hui with the Waharoa community. These outcomes informed a high-level spatial plan for Waharoa, which was presented to Council in a workshop on October 2021. Council and Ngāti Hauā Iwi Trust are committed to working through more of the details of the plan change.

Stage 1 Community Consultation - March 2023

We have completed the Stage 1 Community Consultation for the Waharoa Plan Change.  You can read the report that summarises the outcomes of the consultation  here .

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Need more information?

If you have any questions about the plan change please contact Carolyn McAlley on 07 8840060 ext 7824 or via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.