Views sought on proposed plan

Environment Southland councillors agreed to notify the proposed Southland Water and Land Plan at a meeting last week.

“The proposed Southland Water and Land Plan has reached a significant milestone and is the culmination of many years work with our partners Te Ao Marama Inc, our communities and industries,” Environment Southland chief executive Rob Phillips said.

The main aim of the Plan is to address activities that are known to have a significant impact on water quality, such as - land use intensification, wintering and stock in waterways.

“We know through our monitoring that there are some areas with declining water quality, and we are seeing increasing pressure on our water resources from water takes. Many of the new provisions in the plan will mean a change in the way water and land in Southland is managed, but now is the time to address these issues,” Mr Phillips said

New rules have built on the physiographic zones science, and your feedback from our engagement period last year. This provides a more targeted approach to tackling Southland’s water quality and quantity issues. The plan includes new provisions for new and increased dairy farming, intensive winter grazing, stock access to water, farm environmental management plans and cultivation.

The proposed Southland Water and Land Plan combines provisions from the Transitional Regional Plan, Regional Effluent Land Application Plan and Regional Water Plan into one document. Many of the provisions incorporated from these plans are unchanged and some have had only minor changes made to them.

Get a copy of the plan from our website. You can submit on any part of the plan and you have untilMonday 1st August to lodge your submission. There are a number of ways you can do this.

Online: www.es.govt.nz

Email: policy@es.govt.nz

Mail: Environment Southland, Private Bag 90116, Invercargill 9840

Deliver: Cnr North Road and Price Street, Waikiwi, Invercargill

An information booklet, ‘Shaping the new plan’ is available and outlines how your feedback from the engagement period last year has been used to help develop the plan.

ENDS

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