Rural Living

In most cases you can, provided your activities don't cause adverse environmental effects. Councils are responsible for managing the effects of activities and may have rules and bylaws controlling things like:

• house location and the number of houses.
• location of farm buildings and stock yards.
• disposal of household sewage and stock effluent.
• taking water from the ground or rivers
• discharges to ground and water.
• burning of open fires.
• distances of shelter belts and plantation forestry from boundaries.
• removal of scrub or trees.
• earthworks to build access tracks.

There may be particular or additional controls in areas that have special landscape or ecological importance.

Ask the Council for a copy of the rules applying to your property and rural neighbourhood. We set basic guidelines or standards but when it comes to managing minor matters, it's up to you and your neighbours. Make sure you contact your neighbours if anything happens on their property that might affect you, and share with your neighbours any plans that might affect them.

The rural landscape is constantly changing. Change is necessary and an inevitable part of living in the country. Farming methods change, new types of rural production occur, crops are planted and then harvested, and land may be subdivided.

Click here to read our latest District Plan.

Council's rules are not intended to preserve things as they are now but to manage the environmental effects of ongoing changes. Our team is here to help and can answer any of your questions about rural subdivisions and the location of buildings on adjoining land. Phone 06 857 8060 to speak to one of our team.

Our Land Transport team is responsible for managing the conditions and maintenance of our district's road while Transit New Zealand is responsible for managing the country's state highways. Private driveways are the responsibility of private landowners.

We encourage people to check that

• access driveways from public roads are part of the property or crosses other land.
• any right of way is recorded on the title.
• any right of way shown on paper matches up with the formed access.
• the location of any dwelling in relation to other people's or shared driveways as vehicles using driveways can cause dust.

Most rural properties have to provide for their own water supply and sewage disposal. This usually involves collecting rainwater in tanks or pumping water from waterways or an underground bore. If water is already piped onto the property from elsewhere, find out where it comes from and check that there is an easement or permission that allows this to continue - even in summer dry periods.

Water storage for water supply to individual premises that are not connected to Council water supply should include at least one water storage tank of at least 30,000 litres capacity. Please note that there is no requirement for rural premises to provide onsite water storage for firefighting purposes.

Sewage disposal is often to a septic tank, which needs to be emptied periodically. All wastewater systems must be installed by a Hawke's Bay Regional Council-approved provider.

It may be that you will need to install a new water supply or sewage disposal system, especially if the property is bare land. Check that any existing water supply and sewage disposal systems meet the required standards and are operational.

Rural landowners are responsible for the ongoing maintenance of water supply and sewage disposal systems, so it is important that you know how to maintain pumps and clear blocked drains.

Please reference Section 4 of the CHBDC District Plan

Please refer to the Water Supply Bylaw May 2021