Since our last newsletter, we have been working to develop the Draft Framework for the region. Our partners (local government, central government and iwi partners in the area) are currently going through a process to endorse the Draft Framework.

The Draft Framework is a blueprint for regional growth in the Wellington region (including the Wairarapa) and the Horowhenua over the next 30+ years and envisages a region which could accommodate another 200,000 people.   

Project Director Kim Kelly says planning for this sort of growth helps the region take a long-term perspective in responding to challenges and opportunities that are already evident. “We’re currently facing issues around housing, infrastructure investment, employment, transport, and the environment. The Framework gives us a way of looking at these things and planning for the future across a much wider geographical area.”

Want to know how we developed the Draft Framework, where we are at, the challenges we are facing are, next steps etc etc etc?

Our FAQs should help with the answers. wrgf.co.nz/faqs. If you have a question that’s not covered off please email us at admin@wrgf.co.nz and we’ll get back to you (and update our FAQs as needed!)

We’ve also released three supporting technical reports which have helped us to develop the Draft Framework: 

• The Options Assessment Report provides a summary of the scenarios and urban development options we assessed which informed our thinking in developing an Emerging Direction for the Draft Framework.

• The Constraints Report represents the project partner’s current thinking around key constraints and values that pose limits to the urban footprint at the regional scale, and which already inform land use decision making. 

• The Employment Analysis Report brings together existing research and data on the current state of regional employment, employment projections and some key challenges and opportunities. 

These reports should be read as inputs into the Draft Framework development (they are not policy for any of the partner organisations). 

The development of the Draft Wellington Regional Growth Framework completes the end of phase 3 of the project and we are now moving into Phase 4. 

The Draft Framework sets out the strategic and spatial direction that will help guide and coordinate decision-making, infrastructure, services and investment to ensure a prosperous region. The Draft Framework is currently being endorsed by the project partners. 

Our aim is to take the Draft Framework to our communities for their feedback in the first half of 2021.