Draft Master Plan engagement
Master Planning is a strategic planning exercise that looks to provide options and opportunities for the short, medium and long term future of the greater Westport area.
Led by Buller District Council, with funding from Resilient Westport, the Master Planning process aims to guide the development of areas of land for future use, creating greater choice for the community around lower-risk areas.
We engaged with the community on the Draft Master Plan from 10 February to 10 March 2025.
Engagement has now closed and we are analysing the survey responses.
In all, we had 126 survey responses. Most we received electroniclly via the https://letstalk.bullerdc.govt.nz/ web page.
The document ‘Cutting Our Own Track – the Westport Concept Framework’ has been developed by urban design experts Isthmus to explain how it might be possible for Westport – facing its own unique opportunities and challenges – to move toward a stronger, safer, more prosperous future.
What’s next?
The results of the feedback are currently being processed.
The Master Planning Concept Plan will be tabled at the 26 March Buller District Council meeting where endorsement will be sought.
The third and final Stage of the Master Planning process will be implementation.
A number of mechanisms can be used to implement the Master Plan, including a Special Purpose Vehicle, supporting legislation, land-use change applications and other mechanisms to assist in the delivery of the plan over time.
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Frequently Asked Questions
There’s a lot of content in the Draft Plan and to make it a bit easier to understand we’ve come up with some FAQs to help break it down a bit.
Please feel free to email us if there are more things you would like to know (or pop into one of our community drop-in sessions)
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Cutting our own track
The document ‘Cutting Our Own Track – the Westport Concept Framework’ has been developed by urban design experts Isthmus to explain how it might be possible for Westport – facing its own unique opportunities and challenges – to move toward a stronger, safer, more prosperous future.
You will see how we arrived at the Draft Master Plan, why we believe it is needed, what cutting our own path could look like and how this could be realised.
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Design Week summaries
Design weeks or local stakeholder workshops were held between April and November 2024.
More than 150 people participated over the 8-month period.
The summaries below give you a glimpse of what was discussed and how the work contributed to the Draft Master Plan currently open for engagment.
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Draft Master Plan in a nutshell
This abridged version aims to provide a snapshot of the Conceptual Framework underpinning the Draft Master Plan.
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Master Planning community drop-ins
Extra drop-in sessions were held throughout the engagement period for people to come in and chat about the plan.
The additional drop-ins have now wrapped up but the Resilient Westport Office (147 Palmerston Street, Westport) is open every Tuesday for drop-ins 12-2pm.
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Let's Talk
The Buller District Council’s Let’s Talk
The Draft Master Plan survey is now closed but you can still find information on the Plan on the Let’s Talk website.
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The results of the feedback will be processed in March.
After that the Master Planning Concept Plan will be completed.
It will require approval by the Buller District Council (March/April).
The final Stage of the Master Planning process will be implementation.
A number of mechanisms can be used to implement the Master Plan, including a Special Purpose Vehicle, supporting legislation, land-use change applications and other mechanisms to assist in the delivery of the plan over time.
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Yes, but we ask that there is only one survey form completed per person.
We would love to hear from everybody - those who live in Westport, the surrounding areas and further afield.
This Draft Plan is important for Buller’s future development as well as those who are more directly impacted.
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You can read the full media release on the engagement here.