The Whitford precinct covers approximately 3735ha of rural land that lies entirely within Tūranga, Waikōpua, Te Puru and Beachlands stream catchments, collectively known as the Whitford catchment. The precinct is a rural area located close to the urban areas of Botany, Howick and Flat Bush. The precinct provisions provide for countryside living development that maintains and enhances landscape character, rural amenity values and environmental quality of the area.
A carrying capacity approach is applied to the precinct. This has been identified as 925 dwellings, including existing and possible dwellings. Subject to strict controls, including careful placement of development, mitigation and enhancement, there is potential for up to a maximum of 925 household units to be established within the precinct without generating significant adverse effects on existing character and amenity values.
This precinct includes two sub-precincts - Whitford sub-precinct A and Whitford sub-precinct B, and six mapped indicative constraints areas. Land not located within any of the six constraints areas is generally considered to be the least sensitive of all land within the precinct and the most appropriate location for development. However, as the constraints are indicative, council will require detailed analysis and design to accompany resource consent applications to subdivide or develop land.
Whitford sub-precinct A
This contains three distinct areas of land. The first lies within the Tūranga Stream catchment. It is characterised as rolling hill country, which generally consists of slopes between 10-20 degrees, and occasional steeper slopes. The second area includes all the land that lies immediately north of the Trig Road ridge and south of Whitford-Maraetai Road. The third area lies in both the Turanga and Waikōpua Stream catchments and is characterised as steep hill country. This area contains some of the steepest land within the Whitford Catchment. The Whitford sub-precinct A contains a significant proportion of slopes steeper than 15 degrees within the precinct. An average site size of 3.5ha is applied to this sub-precinct.
Whitford sub-precinct B
This area lies within both the Te Puru and the Beachlands south stream catchments. It has a coastal edge and, as a result, it includes specific provisions addressing both the landscape character and environmental considerations. An average site size of 5ha is applied to this sub-precinct.
Road corridor indicative constraints area
This constraints area is based on a visibility out to 300m every 50m along arterial roads within the Whitford precinct, being Whitford Park Road, Sandstone Road and Whitford-Maraetai Road, shown in
Figure 4 (refer Part 4.5.6.3),so that:
•existing views of the wider countryside are maintained along the roads network
•separation distances between developments are maintained by dispersing dwellings or clusters of dwellings.
Scenic amenity indicative constraints area
This constraints area applies to all sensitive ridgelines above the 80m (RL) contour within the Whitford precinct that are visible from the main roads, shown in
Figure 3 (refer Part 4.5.6.3) to:
•maintain the existing balance between the built environment and existing natural areas, including areas of native vegetation, pastoral lands and production forestry, particularly along the ridgelines that enclose the precinct
•maintain separation by dispersing development.
The hill country and ridgelines surrounding the precinct not only contribute significantly to landscape character and rural amenity values within the area, but also to the surrounding suburbs of Howick and Cockle Bay and the wider Whitford area. Limiting the number of buildings and structures in the skyline ridge and hill country areas is therefore critical to maintaining rural amenity and the perception that the precinct is rural in character.
Riparian management indicative constraints area
This constraints area applies, as a minimum, to all land lying 10m either side of all existing permanent streams within the precinct, shown in
Figure 2 (refer Part 4.5.6.3) to:
•protect existing landscape features associated with riparian margins
•allow for sediment control between household units and streams
•provide visual screening opportunities between household units
•provide for possible future recreational and ecological corridors.
No development is permitted within the constraints area. The objective is to limit the amount of development in gully areas and in proximity to streams, and to allow the setting aside and replanting of these areas with native vegetation. The 20m width of the constraints area is the minimum requirement only. The actual area of riparian margin that may be required to be enhanced and/or protected may be greater, depending on the topography and physical characteristics of the stream. This would be assessed at resource consent stage.
Coastal indicative constraints area
The coastal edge contributes to the existing character and amenity values of Whitford’s landscape, refer to
Figure 3 (refer Part 4.5.6.3). Views of the coastal edge, estuarine areas and the inner Hauraki Gulf are a source of significant amenity to the area. This constraints area covers the area where land subdivision, use and development can influence coastal landscape and amenity within the precinct. The primary purpose of this constraints area is to protect existing landscape character and amenity values associated with the coastal edge including beaches, intertidal areas, estuaries, cliffs, escarpments and coastal slopes.
Native vegetation indicative constraints area
This constraints area identifies areas of native vegetation for protection and enhancement, shown in
Figure 2 (refer Part 4.5.6.3) to:
•protect existing native vegetation for future generations
•provide opportunities for increased diversity through permanent legal protection of existing areas of native vegetation through fencing, weed and pest control
•enhance the landscape to ensure ecological services are maintained during and after development
•protect the quality and resilience of the resource.
Slopes indicative constraints area
A significant portion of the precinct consists of slopes steeper than 15 degrees, refer to
Figure 1 (refer Part 4.5.6.3). The northern and eastern parts of the precinct form a series of prominent hills and valleys. Large tracts of unstable ground are situated in the southern part of the precinct. This is delineated as the Southern Landslide zone and covers approximately one third of the precinct. Within this zone there is evidence of mass land movement and benched topography, typical of deep-seated block sliding.
The location of the slopes steeper than 15 degrees is mapped as an indicative constraints area to:
•avoid development within these areas unless it can be proven that the building platform is stable
•encourage stabilisation and landscape and ecological enhancement through revegetation of steep and erosion-prone slopes.