Significance and Engagement Policy

NPDC wants your feedback on the draft Significance and Engagement Policy.

Status: Closed

Submissions closed: 14 August 2023

The Policy guides Council to determine how important an issue is. An issue that is more important will have more rigour applied in considering it, as well as being more likely for Council to engage with the community before making a final decision. 

While the Policy has been completely revised, the main changes from the existing policy are: 

  • Introduce new grounds for assessing how important an issue is for Council (relating to climate change and the views of iwi and hapū);
  • Being clearer on the relationship between the significance of an issue and the expectations for community engagement;
  • Providing expectations for how the community engages with us, including an expectation that submissions and feedback will be respectful; and
  • Clarifying our approach to engaging with iwi and hapū (which applies when there are not specific legal requirements). 

For information on the report to the Council Meeting on 13 June 2023 see item 3 on the agenda.