YOUR LEVY AT WORK INDUSTRY WIDE ISSUES FOR INDUSTRY GOOD
Natural resources and environment Michelle Sands : HortNZ strategy and policy manager
Selwyn District Plan – hearing Selwyn District Council notified the proposed Selwyn District Plan for public consultation in October 2020. Submissions on the proposed plan closed on 11 December 2020. Key matters that are managed by the district plan include: • Land zoning and subdivision – managing how land use change can occur and where urban growth is located. • Reverse sensitivity issues for managing conflict between land uses, including things like noise, light, standards for sensitive activities. • Provisions for buildings and structures, such as glasshouses, packhouses, worker accommodation and crop protection structures. • Storage and management of hazardous substances. • Protection of special features, landscapes and sites of significance. Horticulture New Zealand and its expert planner presented evidence at the rural zone hearing in March. Waikato District Plan – appeal The decision version of the Waikato District Plan was notified on 17 January 2022, appeals closed 1 March 2022. Parties may join appeals as ‘Section 274’ parties by 22 March 2022. A total of 67 appeals were lodged.
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The ORCHARDIST : APRIL 2022
HortNZ’s appeal relates to: • Opposing requirements for Seasonal Worker Accommodation being limited to a Record of Title with an area of at least 20 ha (otherwise non-complying). • Opposing 12m setback requirement for artificial crop protection structures. • An amendment to GRUZ-P5 to ‘provide for’ (i.e., through case-by-case assessment of appropriateness) rather than ‘enable’ non-rural activities. • Seeking deletion of GRUZ-P16. • Seeking to enable ‘Ancillary Rural Earthworks’ in flood management overlays. • Seeking an amendment to the definition of ‘farming’ that restricts loading areas for helicopters and airstrips to only activities on the ‘same site’. Hawke’s Bay Outstanding Water Bodies – mediation Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Plan Change 7: Outstanding Water Bodies proposes to change the Regional Resource Management Plan (RRMP) to include a list of the region’s outstanding water bodies, together with a framework which prescribes a high level of protection for these water bodies in future plan making. The water bodies identified in the proposed Plan Change 7 are the ‘best of the best’ within the region,
