MEDIA RELEASE

Regional Council to apply for consent renewal

For immediate release: Friday 16 October 2009

Environment Bay of Plenty will shortly be applying to renew the resource consents it holds for the Okere Gates and the Ohau Channel weir.

The consents, which are for the structures’ placement and use, are due to expire in June 2010. They’re currently held by the Rivers and Drainage Group of the regional council.

Environment Bay of Plenty Group Manager Rivers and Drainage Ken Tarboton said the regional council is working with the Te Arawa Lakes Trust to find a proposed operating strategy for both lakes.

Te Arawa Lakes Trust owns the beds of both lakes following the Treaty Settlement Act of 2006.

“Technical investigations are being carried out to determine the impacts of alternative proposed operating regimes for the structures,” Mr Tarboton said. “These investigations include meeting with a number of interested groups and the wider community about the consents.”

Mr Tarboton said people were welcome to contact Environment Bay of Plenty to find out about the consents, or they could attend an open day where they could speak with project staff.

The open day is being held on Wednesday 28 October 2009 in the Opus Room at the Energy Events Centre, Government Gardens, Rotorua, between 2pm and 7pm.

“We are also holding hui and meetings with key stakeholders during October,” Mr Tarboton said. “Taking the information obtained during the investigations and derived from the consultation process, we aim to propose an operational strategy that maximises community-wide benefits for the resource consent renewal.”

Environment Bay of Plenty plans to lodge the resource consent applications by the end of 2009.

The applications will be publicly notified in early to mid 2010. As well as having an opportunity to get involved in the process during October and early November, key stakeholders and the public will also have the opportunity to make a formal submission as part of the consent process next year.

Environment Bay of Plenty also has information on their website that will be updated during the project. Please visit http://http://www.envbop.govt.nz for more information.