Make a submission

How to make a submission on the Draft Spatial Plan

You have to make your submission by 5th October and you can do this in three ways:

1. Send an email to planningforgrowth@wcc.govt.nz telling them your views
2. Download and print a paper submission form and pop it in the post (it’s free)
3. Go to this weblink on your phone or computer and complete an online form

We recommend that you submit a paper form and use our guidance to ensure that your submission is counted in the weighting of all responses.

Completing the Paper Submission Form

You do not have to follow the instructions on this form strictly, you can still make a difference by completing what is appropriate for you. If you want to read the plan summary it is here. We have the following guidance to help you find the best response for your own choices (by section and question number):

Section 1 – your details – complete sufficient to identify yourself as an Onslow resident making an individual submission

Section 2 – answer as many questions as you are comfortable with

1. Answering this if you want to comment on the Central City
2. Answer this if you want to comment on the Inner Suburbs (not ours)
3. Answer this to express agreement or disagreement with what is proposed for Onslow
4. Answer this to agree with going up or to disagree and prefer more greenfield sites – use a. to add a personal comment, e.g. to focus in stages, use greenfield sites, etc.
5. Only applies to other suburbs, there’s no equivalent for us
6. Only applies to other suburbs, there’s no equivalent for us
7. Tick as many as are important for amenity (not function) and consider adding from this list: open space, privacy, landscape, safety, heritage, culture, architecture, vegetation, recreation, quiet, outlooks and character.
8. There is only one future rapid transport system in the plan, but feel free to answer anyway
9. If you find out how the spatial plan delivers these goals, please email us!
10. Is a prompt to add anything else you’ve missed already.

Section 3 – provides free space for personal comments – please add some to show your form was not completed under someone else’s instruction – it also contains optional questions you don’t have to answer:

1. It is constructive to find something to like
2. Free space for criticising the plan – what you would put in an email
3. There is a huge amount of work to be done to get to the District Plan, which had it been done already would add confidence in the realism of the Spatial Plan, for example, costing it, knowing what infrastructure must be built to support it, additional schooling, transport, recreation, shops and commerce required, etc.
4. Read each subsection carefully (the questions are loaded!) and mark those you care about and have time to respond accordingly
5. More loaded questions, with exaggerated statements designed to get the answer they want – exaggerate your response if you want to
6. Enough said by this point!

The final question 13 is the place you would put the contents of your email if that is what you were considering. In it you might like to consider what is NOT in the Spatial Plan and the submission form:

• The Spatial Plan is for 30 years growth, but there is no staging or prioritisation of what happens when – what do you think comes near the beginning or should be left till the end?
• The Spatial Plan says little about how the increased population will find jobs or how our suburbs will become more vibrant, inclusive, connected or resilient – what should it address to deliver these?
• Important aspects of amenity and character have been missed for outer suburbs (see Q7 above), so please tell them – Why do you live in Khandallah and what must be protected, developed or created to make it even more valuable to you and your community?

You may also want to challenge some of the exaggerations in the spatial plan, for example:

• That our heritage, branch railway was by-passed in 1937 as it did not meet the requirements of the main line, especially because it was not fast enough and only had a single track, so how can it be a rapid transit system in 2020 when it still does not meet the definition of one?
• That the 80,000 population projection for Wellington has only a 10% probability in the Statistics New Zealand projection, is 7 years out of date, has not been corrected to project from 2020 onwards and is pre-Covid.
• That Khandallah can conservatively meet 3/4 of the growth required without changing the spatial plan, and more likely will meet 100% of the most likely population projection.
• That there is much more space available in greenfield sites than the Council has projected if they are built to the density that the Council wants for the rest of the City.

We sincerely hope that these thoughts will help you make a more powerful and personal submission.

Let’s build a brighter future.