Petone 2040

What's this project about?

What will the Petone area look like in five years’ time? How will it look in 20 or 40 years?

Petone 2040 unifies the area’s characteristics and its people’s expectations and ambitions, offering a consistent long-term vision for Petone and Moera.

Petone is a unique fusion of heritage buildings, character housing, cafes and restaurants, specialist retail, large format shopping and industry, through to coastal environments. It's an important gateway to urban Lower Hutt and a crucial transport link to other parts of the city. Its residents and business people hold a diverse range of views and aspirations. The area is experiencing growth; Petone makes a significant contribution to the city’s economy and holds great potential.

Petone 2040 provides a coherent and stable planning framework to guide the location and nature of development and supporting infrastructure and their implementation timeframes. All of this sits under a set of key principles that line up with Council’s vision and strategies for the growth and rejuvenation of Lower Hutt.  

Developing a spatial plan of this calibre takes a high level of local consensus and community ownership. Petone 2040 is the result of extensive discussion and consultation, involving the area’s residents, business people, iwi, local organisations and clubs as well as government agencies such as the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Petone 2040 is an initiative of the P2040 Group in partnership with Hutt City Council. The Group consists of seven members appointed by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Harbour Ward Councillors. It includes representation from the Petone Community Board, local residents and businesses.

Where are we at?

The P2040 Group commissioned McIndoe Urban Ltd in January 2016 to develop the Spatial Plan.

• Stage 1 - involved producing the Preliminary Study for a Petone Spatial Plan in May 2016. This was a baseline analysis of the Petone and Moera study area. It identified key physical and environmental conditions, opportunities and principles and made a comparative assessment of Council policy and strategy.
• Stage 2 - was the development of the overall strategic spatial direction for Petone and Moera. This was made up of 15 related initiatives that address area-wide issues of urban growth and key infrastructure, as well as locally specific development projects. Public consultation and engagement was undertaken to test and further identify these and other initiatives within an overall plan.
• Stage 3 - was the final shaping of Petone 2040. This was published in July 2017.

Petone 2040's key recommendations:

• adopt the spatial plan for Petone and Moera within Council's District Plan
• update Petone’s vision and partner this with design guides and master plans
• base future policy, planning and vision on urban structure and neighbourhood character
• undertake further masterplanning at three 'gateway' locations and The Esplanade
• develop a public realm strategy that coordinates public and private development
• adopt the spatial plan's nine principles as a common foundation for the public realm strategy and future planning
• redefine the medium density residential overlay to align with existing traditional housing characteristics and to better control new development in those areas
• enable targeted intensification at six locations
• further develop and implement the spatial plan's 15 project initiatives beginning with the streetscape upgrade to Jackson Street heritage precinct

You can read more about each of these recommendations within the full Spatial Plan document.

Where are we heading?

Petone 2040 is a long-term strategy. Projects will progress according to their urgency, availability of funding and their priority, as determined by the P2040 Group and Council.

During 2017 the Jackson Street Streetscape Design was completed and can viewed here (PDF 50Mb).

How can you find out more?

For more information, contact Hutt City Council urban Design Team on 04 570 6666.