Te Whakawhanake Papakaainga

Step 1: Whaanau planning

Develop and share your vision with your whaanau.

Step 2: Workshops/research

Gather information about your whenua and its governance. You may need to work with other shareholders and ensure you have the right permissions from Te Kooti whenua Māori.

Step 3: Project feasibility

Project feasibility involves the engagement of technical experts that can assist you with options, detailed technical design and costs.

Step 4: Due diligence

Finalise the papakaainga development plan, secure your funding an finances, including council consents and development contribution costs.

Step 5: Building/project management

Obtain all necessary consents from council, ensuring you have the right documents from the Māori Land Court to begin your build.

Step 6: Project closing

The build is complete which means the focus in now on maintenance and management.

There are costs associated with obtaining both resource and building consents from your local council. Usually a deposit fee is required and the remaining costs are assessed by charging for the actual and reasonable time taken and for any site visits or inspections required. You can find a link to the current fees and charges on this page.

See our Fees and charges page for more information.

Development contributions (DC’s) are required for papakaainga developments as a contribution towards infrastructure such as roads and community facilities including parks and libraries.

Check out the ‘Papakaainga and Development contributions explained’ section on this page under additional resources for more information.

If you would like to know more about what development contribution’s will apply to your project, check out our Development contributions page or email our development contributions team at developmentcontributions@waidc.govt.nz 

The (proposed) Waikato District Plan (the plan) is currently under appeal, however, parts of it will soon become operative. New, more enabling rules regarding Maaori land, particularly in developing Papakaainga, are included.

The definition of Maaori land in the District Plan means Maaori freehold land, Maaori customary land, Maaori reservation or Treaty settlement land.

What do some of the plan changes mean?

• Instead of having Paa Zones – where maps identified where Papakaainga could be built, Maaori purpose activities are listed in the plan (which includes papakaainga development) and are permitted in any zone if the whenua is Maaori Land as per the above definitions in the Plan.
• There are now no limits on the size, building height or number of houses able to be built for papakaainga.
• However, while Maaori Purpose Activities are PERMITTED ACTIVITIES all buildings must still have a building consent, pay development contributions and some activities may require resource consent where underlying zone rules apply.

Learn more about the district planning rules for whenua Maaori here.

• Marae and associated facilities
• Papakaainga housing development
• Papakaainga buildings
• Cultural events
• Urupaa
• Tuaahu
• Waharoa
• Church
• Hauora
• Koohanga
• Conference centre and facilities
• Waananga
• Recreation facilities, and
• Papa taakaro

• Outfall structures located within an Identified Area
• Vehicle access for all activities
• On-site parking and loading
• On-site manoeuvring and queuing
• Number of residential units;
• Minor residential unit rules;
• Buildings and structures in Landscape and Natural Character Areas
• Building height; and
• Building coverage

Building Consents

Most building construction and drainage work will require a building consent.

A building consent is a formal approval granted by your local council to show that your building work meets the requirements of the Building Code. This makes sure that your building is safe and meets the right technical standards.

The requirements of the Building Code (and building consents) are mainly to ensure buildings are constructed in a manner that ensures the wellbeing of those living in and visiting your Papakaainga.

Alongside a building consent, other permits may also be required. For example, if a new driveway is to be created onto a public road, or a connection is required to public utilities like water or wastewater (if available).

When building on Maaori land it is important that you have the right to build there. You will need a licence to occupy or an occupation order as discussed on our Building on Maaori land page.

Resource Consents

A resource consent may also be required for your papakaainga development.

A resource consent (sometimes known as a Land Use Consent) is formal approval granted by your council to breach a rule in a plan. All districts and region have plans. These plans contain rules on what you can do on your whenua and what activities will or won’t need resource consent. The purpose of plan rules (and resource consents) is mainly to ensure developments  are constructed in a way that provides for the wellbeing of the taiao, neighbouring properties and the wider community.

Resource consents may be required from both our Council and Waikato Regional Council.

The rules in the Maaori Land section of the Proposed district plan do not apply to general land , the zone rules will apply.

There may be some instances where medium density housing rules may be applicable, including variation 3 amendments which could allow up to 3 dwellings – dependent on where your property is and if the variation 3 changes are adopted by Council. Resource consent could also be a possibility for some developments and there may be instances where a private plan change could be applied for (depending on the scale of your proposed development).

Please contact our duty planning team here to find out about the rules for your general land property.