A mindset shift will be required to plan for population decline

In Chapter 4 of 'Rebooting the Regions' Alice Kranenburg (Whakatane District Council) says "planning for decline requires a total change in the thinking of local government, residents and their stakeholders."

It will be interesting to see what this looks like in district plans, long term plans and asset management plans. For example:

• will there be rezoning away from residential development to other land uses?
• will asset management plans indicate where reductions rather than extensions to the water supply, wastewater and stormwater networks will occur over the next 10 years?
  
• will councils use long term plan consultation documents to test their communities' willingness to accept reduced levels of service as a trade off for avoiding rates hikes?