City of Hamilton Plan 2023

The current plan for the City of Hamilton is the City of Hamilton Plan 2015, which was adopted in June 2016. Given the time that has since past and the wide ranging impacts of the pandemic, it was determined in late 2021 that it was time to take a fresh look at the City. The review that we have undertaken has not only been driven by analysing the data that we have collected, but also by an acknowledgement of some of the opinions that we have received from stakeholders in recent years, as well as international research.

We believe that it is important to continually review how the planning system is functioning and monitor if it is fit for purpose. As a Department, we carefully and consistently analyse planning decisions and how the established policy context is being applied in practice. Through time, this builds up a body of knowledge and opinions which can be used to inform policy direction. From the outset of this plan making process we were of the opinion that a fresh and new approach was required and the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft) was the first stage in that process.

The Department is aware of concerns raised during previous plan preparation processes, most notably in terms of going directly to the stage of issuing an operative draft plan without any prior community engagement. The Department acknowledged these concerns and pursued a different approach in the preparation of the North East Hamilton Local Plan 2022, whereby the draft version of the plan was issued as a non-operative document. We wanted to further our consultation efforts with the preparation of a new city plan to maximise opportunities for public input and therefore introduced a new stage to the plan-making process: the Consultative Draft stage.

Consultation on the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft) commenced on 19th January, 2023 and ran until 24th March, 2023. During this period the Department conducted various consultation exercises, as detailed below. The next stage in the process is the preparation of the draft plan, which is a legislated stage of the process. Alongside the draft plan an updated version of the City Survey Report will be published, which will contain a summary of the issues raised through the City of Hamilton Plan 2023 (Consultative Draft) consultation phase, alongside the Department’s responses.

The draft plan will provide a more solidified representation of what the Department considers the final, adopted version of the plan should look like. However, this stage will also provide a further opportunity to make submissions to the Department in the form of either an objection or representation. 

A tribunal will be held where there are any remaining objections which could not be resolved. This provides an opportunity for both the objector and the Department to present their case and for the members of the Tribunal to ask any questions. The Tribunal will then provide the Minister with a report outlining its recommendations. The Minister will have the final decision on how to proceed with each of the objection cases, and in terms of the overall final content of the plan.