The Otago Regional Council (ORC) has made further changes to its Land and Water Regional Plan and says it will now be less costly.

But the actual costs that have been requested by Environment Minister Penny Simmonds were still being worked through and won’t be released until September 17.

On Wednesday, September 11, the ORC put out a media statement following last week’s closed meeting to discuss a letter to Minister Simmonds, and on Thursday representatives met with her in Parliament to discuss the issues further.

Chair Gretchen Robertson said in the release, the full costs and implications requested by Minister Simmonds were still being developed.

But Dunstan Ward councillor Gary Kelliher said the ORC had reached a new level of disgrace by continuing to withhold information from the public.

“The lack of transparency is becoming the norm for a council that has environmental ideology ahead of the actual needs of Otago and its long-suffering ratepayers,” he said.

Cr Robertson said there was still a large part of its community concerned about water degradation that were asking them to act now.

“The bulk of our plan was drafted over 15 years ago, and it hasn’t kept up with the rest of New Zealand,” the statement said.

“As part of our response we have committed to providing further information to the minister as soon as it is available.”

She said the ORC was confident that changes made since its November 2023 engagement were aligned with government direction, better enable infrastructure and allowed more flexibility to farmers through the use of Freshwater Farm Plans. 

“Without a replacement plan our communities - particularly our farmers - will face high administrative costs in complying with our existing plan.”