Council spins controversial plan

The plan still needs to go through a hearings process towards final decisions scheduled for next year.

But landowners will need to be planning to complete registration of their property with the council or provide a nitrogen reference point (NRP), as currently proposed in the plan. 

The Waikato Regional Council last week mailed brochures to 10,000 landowners in the catchment, outlining key components of the proposed plan. This includes what landowners can be thinking about now, to ensure they’re well placed when final decisions are made.

Chief executive Vaughan Payne says parts of the plan may change after the hearings process.

“We’re saying to landowners that if they understand what’s currently proposed, the information they may need to provide or the work they may need to carry out on their properties, they will be well placed when final decisions are made,” he says.

Key components landowners need to be more responsive to currently include:

• Registration of all properties over 2ha in the Waikato and Waipā river catchments by March 31, 2019.

• Provision of a nitrogen reference point (NRP) by March 31, 2019. This will affect most properties over 20ha and commercial vegetable growers. If landowners keep good records now the cost of preparing this information could be reduced.

• Creation of a farm environment plan (FEP). This will affect most properties farming over 20ha. FEPs are tailored to identify and manage the four key contaminants -- nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and bacteria -- on a property, setting out specific timeframes for work to be done. Under the proposed plan the first FEPs will be due by July 1, 2020.

Meanwhile, an application for judicial review of Healthy Rivers/Wai Ora: Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1, sought by Horticulture NZ and others, was withdrawn in March.

The group applied for judicial review following the partial withdrawal of an area of the proposed plan change to allow for consultation with Hauraki iwi. However, after the council outlined to the group the process to reincorporate the withdrawn area into the full plan change process, they were satisfied.