By Sue Newman  March 19 2010

Last time around, it took 27 days of meetings and 42 days of hearings to sign off Ashburton's District Plan.

That marathon is about to be repeated as the Ashburton District Council prepares to adopt its district plan review. The review was signalled three years ago to ensure the plan continued to meet district requirements for the next 10 years.

Council environmental services committee chairman, Robin Kilworth, said the updated plan, in its draft form, was ready to go public. It has been prepared with a huge amount of community input, but it still has to stand the test of several rounds of public submissions, she said.

"Reaching this point has been a very long process, but it has been very worthwhile. This is the document that gets the most public inquiry, but it is still a work in progress and it will be reformed and developed by the community."

The document as it stood was very good, but when it passed through what would inevitably be a long public submission process, it would emerge even better, Mrs Kilworth said.

The district plan is a product of the community, council's environmental services manager John McKenzie said. "It's not done by a consultant and it hasn't been picked off the shelf. This is our plan, a plan the community has been involved in making," he said.

Meetings have been held around the district, key stake holders consulted and individuals who have had concerns have also been part of the process, but the plan still has to be reshaped through the community consultation process, likely to begin in late April.

"This plan is for our district, to meet the requirements of our community," Mr McKenzie said.