14. Use of the Rural Environment Volume One (g) open character across the plain; (h) encompassing Marlborough’s main urban centre of Blenheim; (i) the arterial roading network traversing the plain; and (j) a centrally located regional airport and New Zealand Defence Force airbase. The Wairau Plain has historically been zoned separately (Rural 3 Zone in the former Wairau/Awatere Resource Management Plan) as its characteristics are distinct from the surrounding rural environments. It has a long history of intense rural production and continues to be a significant source of economic revenue for the District, mostly from primary production activities. With its large area of flat land, proximity to the major urban centre of Blenheim and rich alluvial soils, it is the most intensively developed and modified rural area in Marlborough, which is why this area continues to be singled out for additional management. Policy 14.4.14 therefore reflects the resource characteristics and values of the Wairau Plain. [D] Policy 14.4.15 – The Wairau Plain has been recognised as having particular amenity and rural character values that are to be maintained and enhanced by: (a) enabling primary production activities as provided for in the underlying Rural Environment Zone; (b) avoiding subdivision below eight hectares to help retain primary production options and retain a sense of openness within the Wairau Plain Area; (c) controlling residential activity, other than that associated with primary production, to avoid conflict between rural and residential amenity expectations; (d) managing the establishment of subdivision, use and development to avoid, remedy or mitigate effects on the safety, functioning and efficiency of the arterial road network; and (e) ensuring that other than as provided for in Policies 14.3.1, 14.5.3 and 14.5.4, activities not related to primary production in the Wairau Plain Area are to be avoided. The characteristics identified in Policy 14.4.14 are potentially under threat from inappropriate subdivision, use and development. The matters identified in Policy 14.4.15 are therefore considered necessary to ensure that appropriate subdivision, use and development occurs within the Wairau Plain Area. An enabling approach to primary production activities that is consistent with the wider Rural Environment Zone is provided for, as the Council does not wish to unnecessarily constrain the type of activity occurring. It is important to note that there is a specific management framework for dairy farming to protect water quality. A lower threshold for subdivision within the Wairau Plain Area is provided for when compared with the subdivision provisions for the wider Rural Environment Zone. An eight hectare threshold has been applied since 1985 and reflects a desire to ensure the potential for land fragmentation is avoided, especially from non-productive uses. The potential for land fragmentation also exists where rural living is proposed, with land lost to dwellings, accessory buildings, access ways, demand for water supply, disposal fields for wastewater, etc. Rural character could be lost if residential lots are created sporadically within the Wairau Plain Area. (This has already begun to occur in several locations.) A minimum allotment size of eight hectares therefore helps to retain primary production options and maintain rural character. Maintaining the integrity of the arterial road network of the Wairau Plain is particularly important, especially with the district road network as a whole having been identified as regionally significant infrastructure in Chapter 4 - Use of Natural and Physical Resources (Policy 4.2.1). Increasing development pressures, along with aspirations of commercial operators to locate themselves 14 – 14