The Regional Economic Development Plan (REDP) highlights that our region has never undertaken a coordinated approach to industrial land use or taken a region-wide view on how and where to bring businesses into our region. This project is one of the initiatives outlined in the REDP.
The Future Development Strategy (the regions spatial plan) also identifies this project as a priority focus. The Housing and Business Development Capacity Assessment (HBA) undertaken as part of the Future Development Strategy projected that the by Dec 2051, the region will require another 697 hectares of industrial land. This is equivalent to more than double the area of the Seaview/Gracefield/Moera area in Lower Hutt.
We need to build a clear picture of the region’s industrial land requirements to determine how to best support job creation and a healthy regional economy. Industrial land has typically been the cheapest and the most at risk from land-use changes, such as from industrial to retail. This trend is placing existing sites under development pressure.
Industrial land in the region is located in areas vulnerable to natural hazards, so some existing sites may not be usable in future. Given planning to retain industrial land is usually done (if at all) at a local level, there is a current knowledge gap of strategic industrial land requirements at a regional-level.
Project partners
- Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce
- Councils
- Centreport
- Waka Kotahi
- WellingtonNZ
- The Horowhenua Company
- Wellington Chamber of Commerce
Project process
The diagram below shows the stages undertaken on this project with the final report for this project expected to be complete towards the end of 2024.
First milestone reached – Stakeholder Engagement report released
This report presents findings from a series of workshops with industrial business and landowners, as well as an online survey. The findings in this report will inform subsequent stages of the study, involving spatial analysis of growth options, scenario testing and an implementation plan.