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North Island crops bogged down Vol 16 No 21, May 29, 2017
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Consents to cost $50K? This is a sign of how political it is.
Neal Wallace neal.wallace@nzx.com
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EEKING a resource consent from the Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council has become a lot more complex and costlier following an Environment Court ruling that will have repercussions around the country. Some believed complex consent applications from Horizons could now cost more than $50,000 but there was general agreement the ruling, sought by the Aucklandbased Environmental Defence Society (EDS) and Wellington Fish and Game, would require councils to take a stricter definition of environmental plans. Ramifications from the ruling could affect the granting of restricted discretionary consents and the way councils considered the practicality and affordability of consent conditions. Processing of about 40 consents with the council was suspended following the court decision earlier this year, which ruled the council was not following its One Plan when considering nutrient leaching. As a result of the case, the council warned consents would take longer, be more involved and cost more. Its strategy and regulation group manager Nic Peet said it was still to determine a new cost structure and the type of information required for complex consents. “Will farmers need to commission an ecological and environmental effects report? “A key question is around
James Stewart Federated Farmers
STOPPED: Tararua farmer Neil Filer is committed to the environment and wants to change his farming practice to reflect that but might have to start his resource consent application with the Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council over again. Photo: Graeme Brown
farmers needing to analyse and give effect to all the policies and plans and if that will require planning support. “An open question at the moment is will they be required to assess the potential impacts on drinking water intakes?’ Peet said how those questions were answered depended on the complexity of the consent and environmental aspects of each application. Horizons’ use of Overseer as a regulatory nutrient management tool was one reason the case went against it. Peet said a new version of
Overseer was released after the council’s One Plan was notified, which meant most farms that met leaching criteria under the earlier version were suddenly in breach despite not changing their farm management. The court also determined the One Plan did not allow the council to take account of the practicalities and affordability of mitigating options for applicants when considering consents because that option was not written into the plan. “If the community wants it (practicalities and affordability of mitigation) to be a factor then
they needed to have it written into the plan,” Peet said. As a result of the ruling Peet advised councils to take care in granting discretion in consents and assessing cumulative effects from diffuse pollution sources. Local Government New Zealand regional group chairman Doug Leeder advised farmers to look closely at the implications of councils using Overseer nutrient budgeting as a regulatory tool. Manawatu Federated Farmers past president James Stewart warned the court ruling could see councils apply a more rigid definition of environmental law.
“This is a sign of how political it is, that it goes right down to points of law and it could happen in other parts of the country.” In the South Island the EDS had successfully sought an Environment Court declaration on land use changes to the Mackenzie District Council’s district plan. Federated Farmers had sought clarity on that ruling through an appeal to the High Court, fearing farmers would now require resource consent for activities such as applying fertiliser or fencing. EDS and Fish and Game had also offered to co-operate with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to seek a ruling on the “ambiguities” of nitrogen limits in the consent conditions for the Ruataniwha Dam. Horizons chairman Bruce Gordon said the original scheme would have removed 200 tonnes of nitrogen from the region’s waterways once all 400 dairy farms were consented. Progress was being made on water quality in the region with results from 10 years monitoring at 36 sites showing improved readings for E coli, oxidised nitrogen, dissolved reactive phosphorus and turbidity.
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