Increased rules, more enforcement of them, and greater public access are promised in the updated Wairoa River Valley Strategy, which was approved this week by Tauranga City Council.

Strategy aims a preserving Wairo river by controlling use. Photo: file.

Some Wairoa residents' habit of fencing to the river margins will come under scrutiny as the Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty district councils carry out the strategy's intention of increasing walkways and cycle tracks along river margins.

Developers are also promised a tighter rein with the introduction of expanded buffer margins along the river banks, from 20 to 300 metres on each side of the waterway.

The councils' district plan rules are also to be tightened to protect the ridgelines and lowlands beside the river from visual impacts as a result of development.

The strategy is also promising to look at formal approaches to concessions for Wairoa River rafting operators – and is promising to establish a formal operator system.

The updated strategy is to have been included in the two councils' Joint Governance Committee agenda, but got bumped aside by the large number of submissions on the draft local alcohol policy. Now the councils intend to consider them separately.

Tauranga City Councillors adopted the updated strategy without discussion.