Regional Council releases Hearings Panel Recommendations
Regional Council releases Hearings Panel Recommendations
28 July 2017
Bay of Plenty Regional Council has publicly
released a report today < BOPRC will consider the
report and its recommendations, and make a decision whether
to accept or reject the recommendations at its upcoming
Regional Direction and Delivery Committee (RDD) meeting on 2
August 2017. Plan change decisions are usually
conducted in a confidential session, however, the Council
has made the decision to have that discussion in
public. “We are aware that there is an extremely high
level of interest in this report from the independent
hearing panel,” says RDD Chairman, Councillor Paula
Thompson. This meeting will now be held in Rotorua given
this public interest. The development of the rules has
been underway for three years, and has included more than
two years of public engagement and submissions. The formal
statutory process commenced with the adoption and public
notification of the final version of Plan Change 10 in
February 2016, with independent hearings held between March
and May 2017. The independent hearing commissioners
received submissions and evidence from more than 50
individuals, groups and organisations. “The
Commissioners spent two months deliberating on the proposed
rule change, resulting in the recommendations report which
has been released today.”
Councillor Thompson says the
RDD Committee’s upcoming decision is a formal part of the
statutory process, and requires Councillors to maintain an
open mind. “Councillors must ensure that their
consideration fairly and evenly addresses the report’s
content and recommendations as they stand, and they are not
able to consider any additional information that has not
been part of this statutory process – whether this be from
submitters, stakeholders or other parties. “We are happy
to meet with interested parties once the statutory process
is complete and from there will determine the next
steps.” The Regional Direction and Delivery Committee
meeting will be held at 9.30am, Baycrest Room, Sudima Hotel,
1000 Eruera Street, Rotorua. Members of the public are
welcome to attend to listen to Councillors consider these
independent panel
recommendations. Background The
Proposed Plan Change 10 to Regional Water and Land has been
in development since 2012 and aims to introduce rules that
limit the amount of nitrogen entering Lake Rotorua from land
use to improve water quality. To meet water quality
standards set by the community, nitrogen entering the lake
must reduce by 320 tonnes by 2032. Less than half of that,
140 tonnes, will come from these proposed rules, through a
change to the way rural land is used in the Lake Rotorua
catchment. The proposed rules are just one part of the
framework to achieve nitrogen reduction. An additional
reduction of 100 tonnes of nitrogen will come from voluntary
land use changes purchased by the Lake Rotorua Incentives
Board; 30 tonnes will come from voluntary gorse conversion
to trees; while 50 tonnes will come from engineering
initiatives. Rules
Engagement After a series of
public hui, workshops and drop-in sessions, two draft
versions of Plan Change 10 were released in 2015 for formal
feedback, with the final version adopted by Council and
publicly notified under the Resource Management Act in
February 2016. This was followed by a further engagement
phase, culminating in a total of 112 submissions, and
leading to the establishment of an independent hearing
panel. ENDS