Great Barrier Island issues and options

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Separate section for Great Barrier Island

Issue

In reviewing the Hauraki Gulf Islands (HGI) District Plan, consideration needs to be given as to whether or not the current structure of the plan is sufficient to address the specific issues faced by each of the Islands.

In particular, the issues facing Great Barrier Island are significantly different from those facing Waiheke Island, so it may be necessary to create a separate section in the plan for Great Barrier, to allow the specific issues to be addressed.

The key differences between Great Barrier and Waiheke are:

• The population on Great Barrier is small and declining while that on Waiheke is large and increasing.
• Employment is not as readily available on Great Barrier as on Waiheke and there is no opportunity for commuting.
• Substantial areas of land on Great Barrier are in Department of Conservation ownership.
• While disposal of wastewater is an issue on both islands, Great Barrier also has no reticulated power supply, so generators are required.
• Great Barrier is less accessible because of irregular ferry sailings and the length of the trip.
• Tourism on Great Barrier focuses on adventure whereas tourism on Waiheke centres around wine, weddings and events.
• Development on Waiheke is of a greater intensity and density than that on Great Barrier.
• There are significantly larger areas of outstanding natural landscape on Great Barrier than on Waiheke.
• Some Great Barrier residents feel more positively about development than do some Waiheke residents.

Further work could be undertaken in order to establish exactly what the implications of these differences are in terms of planning controls for Great Barrier as compared to Waiheke. If the differences require a significantly different planning approach for Great Barrier from that used on Waiheke (perhaps excluding land units, policy areas and Strategic Management Areas) then a separate section may be necessary. Alternatively, if the differences do not require a significantly different approach (just different permitted standards for Great Barrier) then this may be accommodated within one section in the plan.

Further to the above, a separate section may not be the answer to all concerns associated with the provisions of the plan as they relate to Great Barrier. For example, it may be the provisions in the land units and policy areas that are not appropriate rather than the structure of the plan itself.

Despite the differences that exist between Great Barrier and Waiheke Islands, there are also a number of landforms and activities that are similar between the two islands (regenerating slopes, residential activity, community activities).