National Policy Statement - Highly Productive Land 2022 (NPS-HPL)
Overview
This is a national policy developed under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). This new policy statement requires Council to map and zone highly productive land and manage the subdivision, use and development of this non-renewable resource, ensuring it is available for growing vegetables, fruits, and other primary production, now and into the future.
Nationally the growth of towns and cities is increasingly occurring on our most productive land. It is important for all councils to be given a clear direction so they can balance the demand for housing and urban growth with the protection of highly productive land. The policy statement responds to the 'Our Land 2018' report, which provided a detailed assessment of the threats facing highly productive land in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Go to 'Our Land 2018' report on the Ministry of Environment's website
Timing
The NPS-HPL came into force on the 17th of October 2022. That means Council will need to take these relevant provisions into account when considering resource consent applications and applications for plan changes. Council must identify and map highly productive land within three years of the commencement date above. Council will then have a further two years to update the proposed Marlborough Environment Plan.
Highly Productive Land Classification
Your land will be considered highly productive under the NPS-HPL if it is zoned ‘Rural’ and it contains ‘Land Use Capability (LUC) 1, 2 or 3 soils’. You will still be able to undertake land-based primary activities on your highly productive land once the policy takes effect. If you wish to undertake other activities that are not land-based primary production, clause 3.9 of the NPS-HPL contains a list of activities that may also occur on highly productive land.
Key definitions of land use capability, productive capacity and land-based primary production can all be found within the link to the new NPS-HPL legislation.
Marlborough Interim Mapping
The National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land requires the country’s most productive land to be identified (mapped). To facilitate this Council has via its smart map system provided an interim map to aid public users, this map is overlaid with the latest Land Use Capability mapping for classes 1, 2 and 3 (data source: the New Zealand land Resource Inventory), Council has ‘clipped’ this with the latest ‘Rural’ zoned land from the proposed Marlborough Environment Plan (pMEP).
Go to Zoned Land Council GIS Smart Map
This interim mapping will provide a mechanism for resource consent applicants and agents to determine if properties seeking to subdivide in the future will potentially need to consider the implications of the NPS-HPL within their application.
Future Work
Council will consider the integrated management implications raised by the NPS-HPL against the proposed Marlborough Environment Plan, this includes the interim spatial mapping, any future NPS-HPL programme works and resource management plan updates will go through Council committee and be updated to this page.
