Warkworth’s population is expected to grow significantly over the next few decades, with more than 20,000 people anticipated to move to the area.

We have a $450m+ infrastructure programme underway that will replace the current Warkworth Wastewater Treatment Plant with a new state-of-the-art facility at Snells Beach.

The Snells Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant and its connecting infrastructure is in service and the ‘hot commissioning stage’ is ongoing. The plant is treating full flows from the Warkworth and Snells Beach area and is compliant with its discharge consent, but we are working through a few technical issues that we’d like to resolve before lifting the limitation for southern Warkworth. We expect to lift this in the first quarter of 2026.

What does this mean for property developers and potential developers?

• We will be honouring our commitments made through existing consents. This means anyone who has an existing resource consent or building consent – with a current commitment of a public wastewater connection – will still be able to connect when they’re ready, provided all relevant consent conditions have been met.

• We urge anyone seeking to build in Warkworth to come and talk to us before you invest significant time and money in the resource consent process.

• Auckland Council may still grant resource consents, but with the condition that no connection can be made until the new Snells Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant is operational.

Timings for available wastewater connections are largely dependent on the location of your proposed development.

Additional growth limitations in north Warkworth

• The area north of the river is subject to an additional limitation as there is limited capacity in the existing wastewater network to service growth. A new Warkworth growth-servicing pipeline is in the detailed sign phase. This pipeline will alleviate growth restrictions in north Warkworth when it's completed in late 2027.

• Auckland Council may still grant resource consents, but with conditions that mean developments cannot connect to the wastewater network until the growth servicing pipeline is completed.

Any questions?

Please email [email protected]. If your query relates to an existing consent, please include the consent number in the subject line.