Western Bay of Plenty District Council is currently considering submissions on proposed changes to the Matakana Island Plan.

The island – situated in the Tauranga Harbour – comprises 6076 hectares, is 24 km long and 5 kilometres at its widest point.

Matakana Island.

It is made up of two distinct areas connected by a narrow isthmus and is the largest sand barrier island in New Zealand.

At present the forested sand barrier of 4300ha is predominantly under commercial forestry, while the western peninsula is mainly farmland and comprises multiple-owned Maori land used for farming or horticulture.

The Island's resident population is 244 of which 99 percent is Maori, the majority living on the farmland part.

In the last few years the owners of the land holdings on the forested area have expressed interest and in some cases applied for consent to undertake more intensive subdivisional and residential development on the land.

This interest has led to the proposed Plan Change 46, mostly in response to appeals from three of the stakeholders – TKC Holdings, Carrus Corporation and Blakely Pacific Limited.

It aims to give effect to the outcomes from the Matakana Island plan and specialist studies undertaken on the island. Read more about the proposed changes and studies here.

Council has so far received 19 submissions on the plan change, with six of those submissions presented to council yesterday.

Former city councillor Bill Faulkner and Cathryn Faulker, whose family own a plot of land at the eastern end of the island, oppose the changes to the plan on the basis it restricts the owner's property rights.

This opposition is based on the district council's restriction on subdivision development to one dwelling per 40 hectares.

Developer Carrus Corporation, whose representative Vanessa Hamm presented a submission yesterday, is also seeking less restriction on subdivision development with a cap of 200 lots on the forestry side of the island. The developers had previously appealed to council to extend a proposed cap of 101 lots to 164.

A representative for the island's hapu Nga Hapu o te Moutere o Matakana also submitted along with BOP Regional Council and TKC Holding Limited, which owns a portion of the island's southern end of forestry, and Bill Duval.

WBOPDC communications advisor Peter Hennessy says council is currently reconvening to consider the submissions and make decisions. Decisions are required to be notified by the end of April 2014.