A private landowner in Pukerua Bay wanted to convert part of a rural lifestyle property into a contractor's yard for storing construction materials, plant, and equipment. The site sat directly alongside the Taupō Swamp complex, a regionally significant wetland protected as a Significant Natural Area and an Outstanding Natural Feature, and partly within a flood hazard overlay. The proposal involved forming a level platform of around 2,900 square metres, importing roughly 900 cubic metres of fill, and upgrading a heavy-duty vehicle crossing onto the public road. Several rules in the Porirua Proposed District Plan were triggered, with the activity ultimately requiring assessment as a non-complying activity.
A stacked-overlay non-complying activity
Derive prepared the resource consent application, working through stacked overlays, earthworks thresholds, and transport standards that applied to the site. The application addressed effects on the adjacent wetland through site layout, setbacks, a perimeter bund, staged earthworks, and screening planting along the eastern boundary and road frontage. Consent was granted on a non-notified basis in July 2025.
Post-consent compliance package
Following the decision, Derive prepared the supporting documents required under the consent conditions. These included an Erosion and Sediment Control Plan, a Landscape Planting Plan using mānuka, harakeke, ribbonwood, cabbage tree, lacebark, and Carex, and a Stormwater Management Plan setting out how runoff and any hydrocarbon risks would be contained on site. Together these documents allowed the landowner to begin works with a clear pathway to compliance and confidence that the wetland's values would be protected.