ISSUE #91
SEPTEMBER 2016
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R U O Y
O T A K I A W
COUNCIL L A N O I G E R WAIKATO M O R F E T A D NEWS UP L A N IO G E R R YOU
Healthy Rivers, your rivers, your plan Wai Ora, ō awa, tō mahere Have your say The public will have more than four months to have their say on a groundbreaking plan change aimed at restoring and protecting the Waikato and Waipā rivers for future generations. In September, Waikato Regional Council voted to publicly notify the Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1 – Waikato and Waipā Catchments. It's designed to clean up our Waikato and Waipā rivers and give effect to the Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River/Te Ture Whaimana O Te Awa o Waikato (part of Treaty settlement legislation) and the Government’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014. Council chief executive Vaughan Payne says our rivers are central to the identity and wellbeing of Waikato people. "They are key to sustaining our communities and our
economy. We know water quality has been the number one concern for people in our region for the past two decades. “A substantial amount of time and money has already gone into cleaning up our rivers by organisations, local authorities and communities and we want to recognise that. This plan will protect that large investment that has already been made and ensure a return on that investment for future generations.” Supported by New Zealand’s leading technical experts, the plan has been thousands of hours in development using a collaborative process with iwi project partners, community representatives, industry, non-government organisations and council all around the table to develop a solution. “Managing water quality is an extremely complex issue and we are working in one of New Zealand’s most complex catchments. The process we have used has ensured those most affected by the changes have been able to directly influence the policy
development to make sure we balance the social, economic, cultural and environmental needs of our region,” says Mr Payne. Once the plan change is publicly notified it will trigger a process enabling the community to have their say on the proposal. We will be notifying the plan in mid-October. Anyone can make a submission on the plan, and can support, oppose or take a neutral stance on its various parts. The submission process will run until mid-March 2017 to ensure people have time to understand the plan change and can make informed submissions. Turn to page 3 to find out more. waikatoregion.govt.nz/healthyrivers facebook.com/healthyrivers