The Council aims to provide incentives to encourage people to preserve our cultural heritage as well as imposing regulations to achieve the desired cultural heritage outcomes.
The incentives offered by the Council include the Heritage Item Assistance Fund, waiving resource consent processing fees for heritage consents and heritage advice (see Incentives). The regulations relate to the Proposed District Plan rules, click here to view.
Old Waimauku
Agencies involved in Cultural Heritage
Rodney District Council is not the only agency responsible for cultural heritage. There are various government and non-government agencies involved with the protection and management of cultural heritage. Below is a brief summary of the roles and responsibilities some of the key agencies:
New Zealand Historic Places Trust
The mission of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) is to promote the identification, protection, preservation and conservation of the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand.
One of the ways the Trust does this is by maintaining a register of historic places, historic areas, wahi tapu and wahi tapu areas. It is important to note that the register does not confer any statutory protection on a site in of itself. The register is an indicator to District Councils of which sites are significant for protection in District Plans. The District Plan rules are the ‘teeth’ of the NZHPT register.
Rodney District Council is a local authority member of the NZHPT and all sites on the NZHPT register are listed in Rodney’s Proposed District Plan.
Rodney District Council
Rodney District Council is responsible for protecting land-based historic heritage within the Rodney District under the Resource Management Act 1991.
The Council protects cultural heritage in the Proposed District Plan through:
• Lists of specific historic structures/sites/fixed objects, historic and culturally significant trees, archaeological sites, and wahi tapu
• Puhoi Historic Village Zone
• Helensville Historic Residential Precinct
In general terms, the Proposed Plan contains rules require a resource consent application for alterations/additions/resiting/destruction of identified heritage items. For a full explanation of the rules and how they pertain to a particular property please see the full rules in the Proposed Plan, Chapter 17.
Auckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) promotes the preservation and protection of cultural heritage.
The ARC maintains a regional database of heritage places in the region known as the Cultural Heritage Inventory (CHI). The CHI is made up from ARC records and also from various other smaller databases including the NZHPT register, District Plan schedules, and the New Zealand Archaeological Association site recording scheme.
Sites on the CHI are a mixture of those protected by law, and others that are noted for their heritage but not formally protected. Rodney District Council shows all CHI sites on LIMs. For more information on the CHI click here.