Designations are a tool which enables Requiring Authorities approved under the Resource Management Act to designate areas of land for a public work or network utility. A Requiring Authority can be a Minister of the Crown, a local authority or a network utility operator approved as a requiring authority under Section 167 of the Resource Management Act.

A designation is a form of 'spot zoning' over a site or route in a District Plan. The ‘spot zoning’ authorises the Requiring Authority’s work or project on the site or route without the need for a land use consent from the Council. A designation enables a Requiring Authority to undertake the works within the designated area in accordance with the designation, the usual provisions of the District Plan do not apply to the designated site. The types of activities that can be designated include transport corridors, sewerage treatment plants, water reservoirs and schools.

This Chapter only applies if your property or the property you are proposing an activity on has a designation on it, as shown in Map Series 2 - Part E of the Plan. For clarity, any instance where the rules in this Chapter overlap (or duplicate) with a rule in the Zone Chapters, the rules of this Chapter will take precedence. However, if you are not a Requiring Authority and are doing works on a property with a designation (but is not in accordance with that designation) the Rules of the underlying Zoning (including Overlay) will also apply.