Residential growth in the district is an important issue given the social and recreational functions of the district and the transport and communication links with neighbouring towns. The impetus for residential growth in the District was originally generated by a history of mining at Te Aroha. The district is now nationally significant for the dairy industry.

Pressures

Residential growth outside of the existing urban boundaries has implications for the current and future amount of residential land zoned for development. Council will monitor the uptake of sections annually in each township to ensure there is adequate land available to meet demand and provide choice while not adversely affecting rural amenity values.

Key Issues

• Residential growth impacts on the use of finite and good quality soils
• The need to minimise the adverse effects created by building scale or dominance, shading, building location and site layout
• Residential development may impact on open space character of residential and rural areas. Ensuring that development is compatible in scale to surrounding activities and structure may mitigate this effect.