Kaipara’s District Plan Due in September

The decisions version of the reviewed District Plan will be considered for adoption at Council’s September meeting. “The Hearings Panel has made its decisions on the 513 submissions received and this has resulted in a redrafting of the Plan to give effect to those decisions.” said Mayor Neil Tiller in announcing the timetable for the District Plan.

He went on to advise that it is proposed to be publicly notified on 21 October should Council resolve to adopt the Plan at the September meeting and it would be open for appeals to the Environment Court for 30 working days as required by the Resource Management Act. “This process gives submitters to the Plan the opportunity to consider how their concerns have been dealt with by the Hearings Panel and if they are not satisfied they can appeal to the Environment Court which will consider the concerns and make an independent and binding decisions.” commented Mayor Tiller.

He then said he was very proud of the work done by the Council and its Hearings Panel to get the Plan to this point. The Plan has been based around a number of outcomes supported by the community during the pre-plan consultation process. This has driven all stages of the process. It has given the Council a robust District Plan with strong links from the outcomes through to the Plan’s policies and rules. This approach provides the district with a high level of certainty around what is intended to be achieved by the Plan.

“This is an enabling plan which is specially written to protect the Kaipara’s life blood, farming, as well as encouraging other industries and businesses to establish and grow in the Kaipara.” noted Mayor Tiller.

When asked about the recently repeated call to withdraw the proposed plan Mayor Tiller commented that Paul Cavanagh QC’s advice is two years late. “He is commenting on a plan which has been through a public submissions process and Council is about to announce the results of that two year process. I would suggest that we will see a significantly different plan” said Mayor Tiller, “It may even answer the concerns of those asking for it to be withdrawn.”

He was also concerned that withdrawing the Plan at this late stage would cause the Council to incur even greater costs because Council is required by law to have a District Plan. However, he was more concerned at the injustice the withdrawal would cause to all of the submitters who have taken part in the statutory process. “Withdrawing the plan now would see most of those submitters ignored.” He said. “Going through the statutorily mandated process ensures fairness to all.”

Council is also processing Variation 1 which will insert an Outstanding Landscapes Chapter into the new District Plan. It is in this area that Farmers of New Zealand and others have expressed concern. Withdrawing the Plan at this time will not make the issue disappear. Those concerned about this aspect should have taken part in that public process which has just been completed according to Mayor Tiller. The Council received 556 submissions on the Outstanding Landscapes provisions and these will be heard later in the year.

The Northland Regional Council is preparing its review of its Regional Policy Statement which will cover similar areas of concern for those concerned about the outstanding landscapes provisions included in Kaipara District Council’s Variation 1. Kaipara’s Chief Executive Jack McKerchar noted that the Government has issued a new National Coastal Policy Statement which the Regional Council will have to give effect to in its Regional Policy Statement. This seems to require a much higher level of protection than envisaged by the Kaipara District Council. “In our discussions with Regional Council people they have indicated there may need to be rules covering activities within the Coastal Policy area and other protected lands.” said Kaipara Chief Executive Jack McKerchar. According to him this imposition of controls should be of major concern to land owners, especially farmers.