Waikato Regional Council will be asking the Environment Court to resolve technical implementation issues in the Healthy Rivers/Wai Ora plan change.

The decision to appeal the plan change was supported by councillors in a 9-3 vote during today’s council meeting in Hamilton.

The “decisions” version of Waikato Regional Plan Change 1: Waikato and Waipā River Catchments, recommended by an independent panel following 59 days of hearings last year, was notified on 22 April 2020.

A report to council said regulatory staff had analysed the notified plan change and concluded that it is “largely implementable but that there are some ambiguities, errors, omissions or inconsistencies that can and should be remedied to better enable implementation of the plan”.

Waikato Regional Council chair Russ Rimmington said, “This community-led plan change is ground-breaking and it’s clear it has influenced many aspects of the coalition government’s freshwater policies released this month.

“We are absolutely committed to building on the great work by urban and rural communities to further improve our region’s water quality and, just like the Government’s Action for Healthy Waterways package, we see this plan change delivering on that,” Cr Rimmington said.

“I want to make it very clear that in making our decision today we are not challenging the fundamental objectives or policies of this plan change. But we need to make sure our ratepayers, landowners and community can understand, implement and deliver on the outcomes of the plan change.

“That’s why this council will be lodging an appeal to the Environment Court on minor technical matters only, and we’ll look to the court to provide the clarity needed to ensure we have an implementable plan,” Cr Rimmington said.

It is not the first time a council has lodged an Environment Court appeal on its own plan, councillors heard. It means Waikato Regional Council will appear in the Environment Court both as an appellant, as well as a proponent.

However, councillors did hear that legal advice from Simpson Grierson notes that, while not preferable, an appeal “may be appropriate” if there are aspects the council “simply cannot live with from a practical implementation point of view or there are important improvements that could be made”.

Chief executive Vaughan Payne said the independent hearings panel commissioners did a good job taking on board the 1000-plus submissions made on the plan change notified in 2016 and then 2018.

“But it is critical we have a plan that is implementable and enforceable – not just for the community, but for us as well.

“We don’t want to end up in the situation other councils have found themselves in, needing to do further costly plan changes. We have an opportunity now to fix some of the technical issues in the plan that will make it otherwise difficult to implement,” Mr Payne said.

He said staff were still working through the details of the appeal, which must be lodged with the Environment Court by Tuesday, 7 July. Mr Payne added that the process would include a legal review of the points of appeal.

Councillors heard it might cost up to an estimated $180,000 over two years to appeal, which would be covered by way of savings from the 2019/20 financial year. Mr Payne said staff were conscious of the council’s need to minimise costs and would, among other measures, look to reduce the reliance on external contractors.

The notified plan change is available on the Waikato Regional Council website at waikatoregion.govt.nz/healthyrivers.

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