Upcoming meetings

The Ashburton Zone Committee meets every fourth Tuesday of each month.

Read past agendas and minutes

Latest media releases

29 April 2013: Ashburton Zone Committee meeting
28 January 2013: Ashburton Zone Committee meeting
23 November 2012: Ashburton Zone Committee meeting
1 November 2012: Ashburton Zone Committee meeting
 

Activities and actions

Since forming, the Ashburton Zone Committee has had briefings from technical experts, a number of field trips around the district and meetings with a wide range of stakeholders to gauge the range of views on water management issues.

In late July 2011 the zone committee facilitated three public workshops to get feedback on key priorities and desired outcomes for water management in the region.

The feedback helped the zone committee develop its Zone Implementation Programme (ZIP). The ZIP outlines the actions, responsibilities and timeframes for activities to achieve the principles, targets, and goals set out in the CWMS.

Community members were also invited to provide feedback on the draft ZIP before it was presented to councils in late November and December 2011.

The ZIP has now been endorsed as "the basis for the design and realignment of work programmes, for drafting regional plan provisions and for preparation of a draft Long Term Plan”.

The committee is now focussed on working with Ashburton District, and Canterbury Regional council staff on the implementation of its ZIP. 

In particular, it has been focussed on water quality and the Hinds-Rangitata sub-regional plan to be included in Environment Canterbury's proposed Land and Water Regional Plan (LWRP).

The proposed LWRP provides the framework to facilitate delivery of the community’s aspirations for water management. It will again be a key focus for the zone committee in 2013.

A critical step in the process is for the committee to work with the community to determine environmental, social, cultural and economic outcomes for the Hinds – Rangitata area. A series of community and stakeholder meetings will be held during the year.

Other water management issues the committee has been considering include  the long-term issue of groundwater quality and drinking water, as well as the importance of wetlands in the zone.

 

Zone Committee field trip

In mid-2012, the Ashburton Zone Committee went on a field trip to meet with Greenstreet Irrigation Society to discuss water management issues.

The intention of the field trip was to build a relationship with the irrigators and discuss the implications of the committee’s recommendations on the Ashburton Flow Plan.

The Greenstreet Irrigation scheme is a significant user of water in the zone with a groundwater take of around one cumec used to irrigate four hectares of land.

Following completion of the Ashburton Zone Implementation Programme (ZIP) the zone committee has continued to work closely with Environment Canterbury to progress the Ashburton Flow Plan.

Committee members have worked with planners to identify tools and options that could deliver on the outcomes in the ZIP, and to make recommendations for inclusion in the Plan.

This is happening within the context of the development of the Land and Water Plan, which was notified in August 2012 (that will replace the NRRP), that will include this river plan as an Ashburton sub-regional chapter.

Feedback from priority area community meetings

This is the feedback from the three community engagement meetings. It has been collated per priority area and per meeting.

A4 layout - Public feedback from Community Engagement Meetings to the
Ashburton Zone Committee (pdf 189 kB)

A3 layout - Public feedback from Community Engagement Meetings to the
Ashburton Zone Committee (pdf 178 kB)

Zone map

Environment Canterbury working with...