ECan circus
OPINION: The Hound wonders, is there some variety of idiot juice in the water in Canterbury? It seems so.
Environment Canterbury says it is pausing the development of its Regional Policy Statement following changes in government direction on freshwater management.
New legislation introduced in October states that Councils cannot notify freshwater planning instruments for public consultation before 31 December 2025 or until a new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management is introduced.
Councillors have also voted to engage with Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds to clarify if there is a pathway to notify its Plan Change 8 prior to January 2026.
Plan Change 8 would enable decision-making following the Supreme Court decision in the Cloud Ocean Water Limited v Aotearoa Water Action case.
The court found that the Resource Management Act did not require take and use to be considered conjointly in all cases and take and use do not need to be considered separately where a plan does not prescribe it.
Plan Change 8, Environment Canterbury says, aims to create a pathway for key infrastructure work that intercept groundwater to be able to apply for consent, even in fully allocated zones.
Environment Canterbury chair Craig Pauling says the decision to pause both the Regional Policy Statement and Plan Change 8 was tough.
However, he says that given the changes to the Resource Management Act already in place and with further changes signalled, councillors had decided it was prudent to put the work on pause.
“I’d like to thank all the staff for their work and the community for their engagement in this mahi to date and to reassure them that input will inform our future planning work,” Pauling says.
“We will continue to work with our communities to achieve the best outcomes for Canterbury/Waitaha.”
Like many manufacturers around the world, European agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturers are currently operating in a difficult market environment. But they are heading to the world’s largest agricultural machinery event in Hanover next month with a degree of cautious optimism.
Established in 2021, the John Deere Technician of the Year Awards champion the important contribution parts and service technicians make to the Australian and New Zealand agriculture, construction and forestry industries.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on farmers from all regions to take part in the final season of the Sheep Poo Study aiming to build a clearer picture of how facial eczema (FE) affects farms across New Zealand.
New Zealand is closer to eradicating bovine TB than ever before, but possums remain a threat, says Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
The ACT Party says media reports that global dairy giant Nestle has withdrawn from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance shows why New Zealand needs to rethink its approach to climate.
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