The Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council are jointly developing a Future Development Strategy (FDS) for Dunedin in partnership with mana whenua and supported by Waka Kotahi and Kāinga Ora.

The FDS aims to promote long term integrated strategic planning by setting out how the DCC and ORC will provide enough housing and business land capacity for the next 30 years and achieve well-functioning urban environments.

The FDS will inform both councils’ next long-term plans and infrastructure strategies and will be a relevant consideration for any changes to RMA planning documents. A Draft FDS will be open for submissions in early 2024.

In May, DCC and ORC hosted 12 community workshops in the central city, city suburbs and some of Dunedin’s outlying townships to hear residents’ and developers’ concerns and aspirations for Dunedin’s future growth. The workshops were generally well attended and included a diverse cross-section of the community.

Attendees raised a range of ideas about how the city should grow and how to support well-functioning urban environments. For example:

• Reopening natural waterways
• Improving access to natural spaces
• Adding more community gardens and pocket parks
• Encouraging more affordable housing
• Improving public transport services
• Providing new and better-connected cycleways
• Protecting productive land
• Avoiding areas of high risk from natural hazards

The feedback received will be used to inform the draft FDS.

If you have any questions relating to the Dunedin Future Development Strategy, please email FDS@dcc.govt.nz or phone 03 477 4000.