Landscape Planning Guide for Peri-Urban and Rural Areas

By Raewyn Peart

This Guide is designed to provide assistance to regional councils and territorial authorities in addressing landscape management issues in their policy statements and plans under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).  The RMA recognises the importance of providing for the protection and management of natural and cultural landscapes.  The Guide focuses on addressing landscape management issues arising in peri-urban and rural areas.

The Guide is primarily targeted at councillors and council staff members involved in landscape policy development.  However, it will also be of assistance to people with an interest in planning for landscape management in peri-urban and rural areas and for those who become involved in district plan preparation processes under the RMA.  The intent of the Guide is to provide information and advice to support effective landscape planning rather than to define a prescriptive methodology.

The Guide has been presented in two parts.  The first part provides introductory material on landscape management under the RMA.  The second part provides more in-depth information on how to undertake landscape planning within the framework provided by the RMA.

Published by the Environmental Defence Society in 2005.