Upper Stebbings and Glenside West development concept

Upper Stebbings and Glenside West boundary

Why are we doing this?

Wellington City expects its population to grow by 50,000 – 80,000 people over the next 30 years. The Council’s strategy to accommodate this growth includes intensification in the central city and around existing town centres, and developing new urban areas in Lincolnshire Farm, Upper Stebbings and Glenside West.

Upper Stebbings and Glenside West are an attractive location for new housing being close to existing shops and services in Churton Park, Takapu Road and Tawa town centre. The area is well connected to the transport network with the existing State Highway interchange at Westchester Drive, the train station at Takapu Road and existing bus services in Churton Park and along Middleton Road.

The area is currently zoned for rural activities in the District Plan. Before it can be developed, the District Plan zone needs to be changed.

What’s happened so far?

Engagement with the community on future development in Upper Stebbings and Glenside West started in 2018 with the development of a vision and design principles. We then engaged on three high level development scenarios. The current development concept builds on the feedback received to date and provides more detail on what the development might look like.

Vision

People living in a community unique to Wellington that is an inclusive and diverse urban area with green spaces, quality transport systems, and effective infrastructure.

Principles:

A compact and diverse community with high standards of liveability
Diverse housing types and styles to meet diverse needs
A community where you can see, experience and play amongst the native flora and fauna
A community designed from the start to be environmentally responsible
A community that embodies Wellington’s cultural diversity, friendly people, festivities and creativity
A well-connected community with facilities and activities so that people can thrive
Good public and active transport connections
Green and traditional water infrastructure that works together improving water quality and preventing flooding.

Timeline

August/September 2018 – Vision and design principles (complete)
November/December 2018 – Development scenarios (complete)
November 2020 – Development concept
2021 – Draft District Plan

What informs the development concept?

The Upper Stebbings and Glenside West area has some streams, including the Stebbings Stream and tributaries of the Porirua Stream. It also features “Significant Natural Areas” – these are typically native bush areas and forested gullies. The area includes high grounds around Marshall Ridge and, like most of the northern suburbs, steep topography in places.

All of the above features have been taken into consideration in the preparation of the development concept with the view of protecting the natural values of the site while providing much needed new housing.

What is proposed?

The development concept comprises:

An extension of Melksham Drive into the Upper Stebbings Valley with housing areas on either side of the Stebbings stream and main tributaries, keeping development below the ridgelines. The stream corridors and higher grounds would form a network of open spaces providing parks, a play area, a green aspect for the new houses and walking tracks connecting to surrounding reserves. The existing bus service along Melksham Drive would be extended to serve the new urban area.
An extension of the “Reedy Block” development, between two stream gullies to be retained. This would be served by a road connection to Westchester Drive and a walking connection down to the bus stops on Middleton Road.
Together, these two urban areas could provide over 600 new houses.
The balance of the rural land in Glenside West (ie land not identified for residential, open space or Department of Corrections use) could either remain in rural use or be rezoned to enable the development of “lifestyle blocks”. These are usually larger than normal residential lots, have a rural character and may use rainwater collection and septic tanks.

Upper Stebbings and Glenside West consultation summary (6.2MB PDF)

What happens next?

We will consider all feedback from the community, landowners and stakeholders and finalise the development concept.

We will then start preparing the material to go in the District Plan to manage development in the area. This will include a map showing where residential activities and open spaces are anticipated, and the general location of main roads, walking tracks and play areas. We will also draft District Plan “provisions” ie objectives, policies, rules and assessment criteria specific to this area which will be used in future to make decisions on resource consent applications.

There will be opportunities to provide feedback on the maps and provisions as part of the wider Draft District Plan engagement in 2021.

Upper Stebbings and Lower Glenside engagement report (5.8MB PDF)

What is the District Plan?

The District Plan is the “rule book” used to manage the city’s natural and built environment – including the types of land use activities and building heights that are permitted.

While the District Plan’s provisions are specific to particular zones, they can be grouped under five overall goals:

Protect and enhance the natural or ‘green’ areas of the city. This includes the Town Belt, Outer Green Belt, rural and open space zones, and conservation sites.
Encourage more intensive and mixed-use development within urban areas to achieve better use of transport, infrastructure and energy – in other words, a compact and more sustainable city.
Improve the overall quality of the built environment from an urban design perspective.
Reduce the risks associated with natural and other hazards.
Safeguard the natural environment – land, air and water – from pollution and contamination.

To achieve these goals, the District Plan sets out a range of objectives, policies, methods and rules.

The resource consent process is the main method of implementing the District Plan. The District Plan allows some developments to take place as of right and without the Council’s specific consent. Other developments that have the potential to cause environmental impacts may not take place without a resource consent.

Further questions and answers

Who will develop this land?

The land proposed for new urban areas is in private ownership and will be developed by agreement between the landowners and developers.

When will development in this area happen?

Before development can happen, the District Plan needs to change the zoning of the land from its current “rural” status to other land use activities. The process of changing the District Plan involves engagement with the community and can take a few years to complete. Infrastructure will have to be provided including roads, bulk water supply and storage, sewerage and stormwater drainage. Earthworks will be required to form roads and development platforms to build houses. Landowners and developers will be leading the development process so the timeline is dependent on their decisions and may be influenced by progress in adjoining development areas such a Lower Stebbings and the Reedy Block.

What types of houses are expected to be built?

The development is anticipated to include a mix of 1-2 storey detached and semi-detached houses as well as some 2-3 storeys terraced housing.

Will there be a road connecting to Sunrise Boulevard or Greyfriars Crescent?

No. We have listened to earlier community feedback and are not proposing a connection to existing suburban streets in Tawa.

Why is there no proposed road connection to Tawa?

We looked for opportunities to create a new road connecting Upper Stebbings to Takapu Road station but a number of factors made this unviable: the steep topography and associated costly earthworks; the presence of streams, areas of ecological values and transmission towers that must be retained; and the visual impact of constructing a road over the ridgeline.

Will all the open space be owned by the Council?

There are a number of ways the open space network can be managed in the future. Parts of the network can be “vested” with the Council – this means the Council has ownership of this land. Some open spaces can remain in private ownership and be protected from development through covenants.

Will a primary school be built to cater for the residents of Upper Stebbings and Glenside West?

The Ministry of Education will work closely with WCC to respond to population growth. There are a number of ways the Ministry can do this, including through enrolment schemes, change of class, adding capacity to existing schools or building new schools. The response depends on the existing schooling network, the type of housing built, connections to existing suburbs and the views of the community.

Background information

We have gathered background information for the area to help inform the development concepts.

Recent reports

Master Planning Report (8.2MB PDF)
Transport Report (5.8MB PDF)

Previous reports

Cultural values report (1.1MB PDF) – how mana whenua value the land
Local history report (1.4MB PDF) – settlement of the area
Transport report (3.1MB PDF) – impact on existing infrastructure and making new transport connections
Landscape and local ecology report (7.7MB PDF) – values of the landscape to the area, and information on birds, lizards, water quality and stream life.

Contact us

If you have any questions contact the District Plan team.
Email: district.plan@wcc.govt.nz