increase font size
Environment Canterbury commissioners have agreed to notify the proposed Canterbury land and water regional plan (LWRP). The commissioners also resolved to revoke certain parts of the natural resources regional plan and the land and vegetation regional management plan when the proposed LWRP is made operative.
"We believe the Land and Water Regional Plan addresses certain key requirements set out in the Ministerial Terms of Reference," says Environment Canterbury commissioner Peter Skelton.
"These include having a simple and robust regional planning framework for water, a plan that is easy to understand and administer and one that reduces the number of resource consents required.
"It's also important that the LWRP allows for the implementation of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy. To achieve this we've heavily involved the CWMS Regional and Zone Committees in the development phase."
Input from other stakeholders such as Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, along with a rūnanga working group established through the Tuia programme, has also been a priority over the past year.
Skelton adds that draft versions of the LWRP have been publicly available and it has produced substantial informal comment which was then considered and, where appropriate, incorporated into the LWRP.
"Now that we've agreed it should happen, notification of the proposed LWRP will happen on 11 August. This will lead onto a submission period where people can formally have their say."
Once notification is completed, all the rules within the LWRP will have immediate legal effect.
OPINION: The case of four Canterbury high country stations facing costly and complex consent hearing processes highlights the dilemma facing the farming sector as the country transitions into a replacement for the Resource Management Act (RMA).
With a focus on producing their own on-farm dairy feed requirements, it would be safe to say that the Fleming family are no strangers to a fertiliser spreader on their North Canterbury farm, near Culverden.
As the New Zealand Government launches negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with India, one Canterbury-based vegetable seed breeder is already benefiting from exporting to the world's fifth-largest economy.
Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.
Rare Canterbury mudfish and tadpole shrimp have been discovered at an environmental restoration site at Bennetts Stream in North Canterbury which is part of a biodiversity initiative being carried out by Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL).
Two butcheries have claimed victory at the 100% New Zealand Bacon & Ham Awards for 2025.
A Taupiri farming company has been convicted and fined $52,500 in the Hamilton District Court for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent into the environment.
The Climate Change Commission’s 2025 emissions reduction monitoring report reveals steady progress on the reduction of New Zealand’s climate pollution.
Another milestone has been reached in the fight against Mycoplasma bovis with the compensation assistance service being wound up after helping more than 1300 farmers.
The Government’s directive for state farmer Landcorp Farming (trading as Pamu) to lifts its performance is yielding results.
The move to bring bovine TB testing in-house at Ospri officially started this month, as a team of 37 skilled and experienced technicians begin work with the disease eradication agency.
OPINION: Spare a thought for the arable farmer, squeezed on one side by soft global prices and on the other…
OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts…
