The Otago Regional Council (ORC) has axed plans to vote on its Land and Water Regional Plan tomorrow after a shock announcement from the Government today.

Tonight the Government will be adding an amendment to the Resource Management Act Amendment Bill, restricting regional councils’ ability to notify freshwater plans.

This meant the Otago Regional Council will no longer be voting tomorrow on whether it will notify or pause its Land and Water Regional Plan (LWRP).

On Friday last week Environment Minister Penny Simmonds told The Central App she was continuing to monitor the regional council, and hadn’t ruled out further interventions or appropriate actions to ensure the freshwater planning did not impose unnecessary costs on ratepayers.

The new pending legislation meant the regional council’s current water and waste plans were still operative, “so it will be business as usual for consent holders,” chair Gretchen Robertson said.

Cr Robertson said although the regional council had worked closely with the Government in the lead-up to tomorrow’s vote, their new stance “is a change.”

“We now need to take some time to consider the implications of this for the Otago community who still need these issues to be addressed.”

More information around impacts of this change on Otago farming, business, recreational and environmental interests, will be communicated in due course, she said.

Today’s announcement from Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop, Minister of Agriculture Todd McClay and Minister Simmonds, was made to provide farmers the clarity they needed around freshwater management, “and to minimise inefficiencies and duplication for councils, and prevent unnecessary costs for ratepayers,” the combined statement from Government said.

“Labour’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (the NPS-FM) is extremely complex and expensive for farmers and councils to implement – and despite that it won’t deliver the outcomes for freshwater that New Zealanders would expect,” Minister Bishop said.

“Regional councils must be equipped to manage freshwater resources in a way that is efficient, effective, and aligned with the Government’s future-focused goals. This amendment ensures the primary sector has clarity over regulations and that councils don’t waste time and resources developing plans that will soon be superseded by the new NPS-FM,” he said.

Minister Simmonds said regional councils would still have an avenue to progress their freshwater plans in some circumstances – for example, where doing so would more quickly enable key housing or infrastructure projects to go ahead.

“We look forward to working alongside councils as we develop the replacement NPS-FM. We will have more to say about it early next year.” 

Cr Robertson said the announcement would give the regional council some time to understand the changes the government was bringing in with the review and replacement of the NPS-FM.

“This is not a pause that will stop the council from continuing to work with mana whenua and our community to improve freshwater in Otago, it is a pause for the planning process. The good work of protecting and enhancing our environment will continue across Otago.”

“Additionally, the council will work with Government officials on legislative options to ensure that unintended consequences do not negatively impact on resource users or pose an unnecessary burden on ratepayers. We have specific time sensitive issues in Otago which will need to be addressed,” she said.

She extended a “big thank you” to the thousands of people involved over the past almost five years in helping draft the plan, from attendance at public meetings and feedback sought, the partnership with mana whenua on the journey and a wide variety of rural and urban industry groups who got involved.

“This has been a significant process, and everyone has worked well with us democratically so far – as we have worked towards a plan which has been years in the making.”

“However, the Government made a different decision the day before our decision. We look forward to working with the Government on the Plan into the future,” she said.