In 1985, not long after joining Hastings District Council, Mark Clews ran a team workshop imagining a world of plastic money, internet shopping, and remote work. At the time, it sounded far-fetched.
Thirty-five years later, as he prepares to retire, it reads like a blueprint for the modern economy. Mark’s path to planning was unconventional. Born in Gisborne and raised in Central Hawke’s Bay, he initially enrolled at Massey University to study architecture.
A growing interest in economics, geography, and, as he puts it, “a bit of a thing for colouring in maps,” steered him toward regional planning—a field he hadn’t even known existed.
After 18 months at Upper Hutt City Council, Mark returned home in 1985 to join the Hastings planning team, bringing curiosity and foresight that would define his career. Back then, planning was a tactile business. “GIS didn’t exist,” Mark recalls.
“We had enormous printed maps showing every amenity, zoning line, building footprint, and section boundary. They lived in steel drawers and were constantly updated by the town plotting department.” Computers were a novelty, and debates raged over whether the council should move from typewriters to word processing. Mark’s official title may have evolved to Principal Advisor: District Development, but his focus remained constant: guiding long-term, integrated development
with the community at the centre.
Three transformative changes stand out. First, GIS, which reduced hours of map work to seconds. Second, the internet, which revolutionised access and responsiveness. And third, public consultation, which shifted from reactive to proactive, embedding community voice from the outset.
“It’s completely flipped; and for the better,” he says. One of the hallmarks of Mark’s work has been long-view planning. The Lyndhurst residential development, which began in the early 1990s but only saw homes built decades later, demonstrates the patience and foresight he championed.
He also takes pride in Hastings’ first town centre renewal in the 1990s—a project that removed the city’s ring road, created a pedestrian-friendly heart, and introduced the now-iconic water feature.
Other projects, such as relocating sportsgrounds to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park and accommodating large-format retail, reflect his ability to balance controversy with community needs.
Mark’s vision has always extended beyond the present. In the 1980s, he foresaw the impact of digital commerce and remote work, and more recently applied Dynamic Adaptive Pathways Planning to coastal climate risks from Clifton to Tangoio.
He represented New Zealand in a climate resilience exchange programme in Park City, Utah, in 2011, bringing global insights home. Across multiple growth strategies—HUDS, HPUDS, and the new Future Development Strategy—he has emphasised flexibility, intergenerational thinking, and community voice.
“Planning isn’t about maps. It’s about people and how we help them live well, now and in the future,” he says. As he steps away from a career that has shaped Hastings, Mark is philosophical. “Local government works best when councillors and officers work as a team.
Politicians should lead the big, public-facing decisions; staff need to provide the best possible advice.”
What comes next for the godfather of planning? “Playing it by ear,” he says—travel with his wife Kath, volunteer work, art classes, golf, and finally tackling the hobbies that decades of planning never allowed.
