The proposed Ngarara settlement will offer people a beautiful place to live in natural surroundings that offer a grand mix of nature untouched, privacy by design and community living. Less than one hour away from the capital Wellington, on high sunshine coastal land set between Kapiti Island and the Tararua Ranges.

Residents will be able to create and enjoy homes that are sure to be well suited to their surroundings. They will gain from the shared commitment to design principles, to preserving the look and feel of the area, as well as its environmental and social integrity.

People building here will be the latest in sustainability information – guidance on design options and technology for maximum energy and water efficiency.

Houses will be set lightly in the landscape, with friendly human interconnections. There will be shared social spaces, as well as open space, walking and riding tracks, lookout points, and easy access to the seashore and to protected ecological areas such as wetlands and old growth native forest.

The overall framework will support a strong sense of community, without requiring people to engage with their neighbours in any particular way – it will make friendliness possible, even likely, through the careful design of the public/private interface, roading and paths, natural meeting points, the placement of special features and creation of ‘third places’ outside people’s work and home where they can relax in company.

• Local character enhanced, rather than marred by new development

• Improved connections between Waikanae township and Waikanae Beach, and within new neighbourhoods, including utility services, low impact roading, and walkways and cycleway networks

• Existing wetland areas, including regionally recognised Kawakahia wetland, protected and enhanced

• Existing ecological assets strengthened, including 'blue green' corridors between Kapiti Island Wildlife Reserve, Nga Manu Nature Reserve and Hemi Matenga Scenic Reserve (and Tararua ranges beyond)

Surrounding community has fair share of benefits of the development, access to resources and services, including open areas, tracks and lookouts, and informal public spaces within villages.

Special features to take into account in the planning

As well as the terrain, soils and natural waterways, planning residential development on the Ngarara land has to take into account some other natural, and manmade, features. This includes flooding patterns, water supply, existing infrastructure and other proposed (and legally established) infrastructure.

The farm is crossed by an existing natural gas pipeline, and a sewerage line. There is a pylon corridor, where high voltage transmission lines run from north to south. There are a number of paper roads across the area, and also a designation for the extension of the Western Link Road across the current farm.

There is also opportunity to make use of the natural water storage capacity of the dunes and marshlands to improve stormwater management in the area.

Any development would include significant flood management, as well as water conservation and efficiency measures.

It is proposed to develop the area with ‘low impact roading’, that involves as little change to the natural landforms as possible, and is also compatible with other kinds of moving about, including walking, cycling and horse-riding. Options are being explored for re-aligning and reducing the scale of the proposed extension to the Western Link Road in line with the district council’s community planning document ‘Kapiti Coast: Choosing Futures – Community Outcomes’.

The diversity of the proposed development would allow for appropriate land use near the existing pylon corridor – for example productive small-scale agriculture.