• Home
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• The Journey
• The Vision
  • Vision Statement & Area Defined
  • Values and Themes
  • Draft Concept Plan
  • Visuals
  • Draft Aerial Oblique View
  • General Commercial Influence on the Town Centre
  • Relation to other Council Work & Key Questions
• Implementation
• Governance

Introduction

The Town Vision plan provides a strategic long term vision for how the Whakatane Town Centre might look in the future. While some parts of the plan may be realised within the next few years, others will depend on market growth and opportunities, and the way the Council chooses to implement the plan.

The adoption of the plan as a Council strategic document will help guide:

• Its capital works programme. Some aspects of the final plan will be achieved by the Council through planned works and upgrades
• Developers and property owners with the inclusion of the Town Centre Vision plan within the District Plan
• Councils investment and freeholding decisions associated with Harbour ground leases

Over the past few years the Council has reconsidered the ownership of land held by the Council through the old Whakatane Harbour Board. The majority of these Council holdings are in long-term perpetual ground leases. These are leases of the land only that can be renewed as of right perpetually. The Council allowed a number of leases to be freeholded during 2001/02. In December 2002 the Council placed a moratorium on further freeholding as it considered that any divestment should take place in a more planned and measured way. The Council felt that it should be considering its property and other development decisions in a more strategic manner. The Town Vision project is part of this strategic planning.

The Town Vision plan will allow the Council to use its ownership of property and its planned development of reserve areas or Council facilities to influence the development of the Whakatane central area in line with that vision.

The adopted Town Vision will assist the Council with future decision making in regard to its property transactions. The Council decided that it is not appropriate to consider individual property freeholding requests of harbour leases until the Town Vision Project was completed.