June 30th 2017

Environment Canterbury’s 2017/18 Annual Plan: consolidating the rules and seeing results

Environment Canterbury’s Council adopted the 2017/18 Annual Plan on Thursday 29 June, with minimal changes from year three of the current (2015-25) Long-Term Plan.

Earlier this year the draft 2017/18 Annual Plan (ie the activity and expenditure proposed for the coming financial year), was made publicly available to the community for feedback, with a proposed total rates revenue increase of 2.94% from the current year. In the Long-Term Plan a 4% increase was estimated for 2017/18. During the feedback process Council heard from stakeholders and the community who supported an increased focus on monitoring for compliance and enforcement. As a result Council agreed additional resource would be put into this activity, resulting in the total rates revenue increase being 3.5% for the coming year.

Deputy Chairman, Councillor Steve Lowndes confirmed the adoption of the plan: “Earlier this month we received a number of written and verbal presentations from our community. While some ideas will now go through for consideration for the next Long-Term Plan, due out next year, one of the key themes that came through that we needed to address immediately was the call for increased compliance staff now that we have a robust rules framework in place around our water management. As a result Council decided that this increased activity should be resourced for the coming year, with a corresponding increase in rates.

“This is a robust plan that will see the continuation of a number of longer-term strategies that have been put in place to drive change in the region”.

Under this annual plan, Environment Canterbury will continue the focus on the portfolios of: water management; air quality; biodiversity and biosecurity; hazards, risks and safety; planning, consents and compliance; transport, Greater Christchurch rebuild and urban development; and regional leadership.

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