Stormwater Management Planning for a New Town

As part of its District Growth Strategy the Franklin District Council identified the Pokeno Township as a growth area. A partnership was formed with a consortium of landowners in the area to realise that growth. This public/private partnership was based on a Memorandum of Understanding that established responsibilites for a variety of tasks required to enable the growth to proceed.

A key outcome prior to allowing growth was the production of a Stormwater Catchment Management Plan. The primary responsibility for production of the CMP was vested in the development consortium. However, the document was to become a Council document, hence making it very much a collaborative effort. The CMP process was further complicated by the Local and Regional Council’s not having finalized Comprehensive Discharge Consents for the District nor had they agreed how Climate Change was to be addressed.

This paper will consider the process followed for the development of the Pokeno Stormwater Catchment Management Plan. Some of the pitfalls discovered through the process, how they were overcome and how things might be done differently next time.