NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 99 — 3 NOVEMBER 2016

authorities;

d. social infrastructure such as schools and healthcare;
e. telecommunications as defined in the Telecommunications Act 2001;
f. energy; and
g. other infrastructure not controlled by local authorities.

Plan means any plan under section 43AA of the Act or proposed plan under section 43AAC of the Act.

Planning decision means any decision on any plan, a regional policy statement, proposed regional policy statement, or any decision on a resource consent.

Short term means within the next three years.

Sufficient means the provision of enough development capacity to meet housing and business demand, and which reflects the demands for different types and locations of development capacity; and sufficiency has a corresponding meaning.

Urban environment means an area of land containing, or intended to contain, a concentrated settlement of 10,000 people or more and any associated business land, irrespective of local authority or statistical boundaries.

National Significance

This national policy statement is about recognising the national significance of:

a. urban environments and the need to enable such environments to develop and change; and
b. providing sufficient development capacity to meet the needs of people and communities and future generations in urban environments.

Objectives

The following objectives apply to all decision-makers when making planning decisions that affect an urban environment.

Objective Group A – Outcomes for Planning Decisions

OA1: Effective and efficient urban environments that enable people and communities and future generations to provide for their social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing.

OA2: Urban environments that have sufficient opportunities for the development of housing and business land to meet demand, and which provide choices that will meet the needs of people and communities and future generations for a range of dwelling types and locations, working environments and places to locate businesses.

OA3: Urban environments that, over time, develop and change in response to the changing needs of people and communities and future generations.

Objective Group B – Evidence and Monitoring to Support Planning Decisions

OB1: A robustly developed, comprehensive and frequently updated evidence base to inform planning decisions in urban environments.

Objective Group C – Responsive Planning

OC1: Planning decisions, practices and methods that enable urban development which provides for the social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing of people and communities and future generations in the short, medium and long term.

OC2: Local authorities adapt and respond to evidence about urban development, market activity and the social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing of people and communities and future generations, in a timely way.

Objective Group D – Coordinated Planning Evidence and Decision-making

OD1: Urban environments where land use, development, development infrastructure and other infrastructure are integrated with each other.

OD2: Coordinated and aligned planning decisions within and across local authority boundaries.

Policies

Outcomes for Planning Decisions

Policies PA1 to PA4 apply to any urban environment that is expected to experience growth.

PA1: Local authorities shall ensure that at any one time there is sufficient housing and business land development capacity according to the table below:

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