District Advice

Information requests

Our district advice coordinator can provide useful information such as:

• Hazard information and flood history to inform sale or purchase of property;
• Whether a property was recorded as being affected by previous flood events;
• Advice on flood inundation levels when building a new dwelling or extension (this may be required by a city or district council as information for a building consent);
• Information around consents for dam-related activities; and
• Facts for insurance purposes.

If you have any property-related questions, contact our District Advice team via our online enquiry form. Please provide as much information as you can and attach any site plans, maps or other related documentation.

Other tips for completing the online form:

• Search by property address or valuation number (e.g. 11 Victoria Avenue or 12345 678 00). 
• Exclude the town/city in the search field as the database searches by district.
• For rural addresses without road numbers, enter the property by valuation number (remember to tick the valuation number box on the form).
• Find property details and valuation numbers via the District Advice map in our online map gallery. Search for the property by street address, title, or valuation number, or navigate the map manually. You can also find property information via our online Rates Search tool.
• If you need help submitting the form, please email us at district.advice@horizons.govt.nz.  

Horizons Maps

The following listed information (including but not limited to) can be found on Horizons Maps | Public Viewer by selecting the relevant map profile and clicking on the ‘Layer’ icon to list and tick the relevant map features or layers*:
 

• Natural Hazards e.g. flooding, faults, liquefaction, tsunami, coastal and volcanic hazards (select the Regional Natural Hazard Viewer Map Profile)
• Land Use Capability (LUC) classes shown as Land Resource Inventory (LRI 2) (select District Advice Map profile)
• Fundamental soil information e.g. classification and drainage class (District Advice Map)
• Ground water bores or drinking supply information (District Advice Map)
• Waterways / streams with One Plan Schedule B Values (One Plan Map)
• Horizons Resource Consent information (Regulatory Activity Map).

District Advice and the One Plan

Horizons’ One Plan aims to discourage houses, businesses, community facilities and infrastructure being in locations that are likely to be inundated during a 1 in 200 year flood event.

However, as the One Plan only contains flood hazard policies, not rules, our role is to provide city and district councils, as building consent authorities, with useful data to help with decision making around plan changes and subdivision development. This includes flood hazard information and floor level recommendations.

The final decision on any subdivision or building consent application lies with those councils. In cases where flood hazards can’t be avoided, we work with city and district councils to consider flood mitigation measures. We also provide advice on any resource consents that may be required from us.