Change 8
Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury) has drafted a proposed targeted change to the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan with the intent of providing greater clarity for consent-holders/applicants to take and use water, or to request a change in how it can be used.
Papatipu Rūnanga provided input while Plan Change 8 (PC8) was being scoped, and through two rounds of feedback. A shortlist of industry stakeholders, environmental agencies and some non-government organisations (NGOs) also had opportunities to provide feedback.
The draft was further refined according to this collective input.
Proposed changes under current legislation
Recent direction from Central Government, prior to the release of its Planning and Natural Environment Bills, prevents local and regional councils from notifying or progressing new plan changes. For simplicity’s sake, we refer to this as a ‘plan stop’ directive.
At the direction of Council, staff contacted the Minister’s office to discuss whether some or all of the proposed Plan Change would meet the criteria for an exemption. The response from ministerial staff was that some parts of the proposed plan change might meet the criteria.
There were three parts to the original draft of PC8:
Part A - Take and use of water. This would potentially enable people or organisations with an existing consent to take water, to apply to use it for a different purpose, subject to strict conditions. The Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan, as it stands, has delayed some important infrastructure works because they intercept groundwater.
PC8 would seek to remove this unintended barrier to development.
Timeline
Review: Plan Change 8 has been developed
Exemption applied for: An application has been made for an exemption to the Plan Stop directive that would enable PC8 to progress
Public notification: Not started
Submissions: Not started
Hearings: Not started
Decision: Not started
Appeals: Not started
Plan operative: Not started
Part B - Wetland construction. Also subject to strict criteria, this would remove some of the barriers to constructing wetlands which can have multiple benefits for landowners/resource-users and the environment.
Part C - Agricultural intensification. This would have included provisions to limit further agricultural intensification, to prevent further degradation of freshwater in Waitaha Canterbury.
At its meeting of December 10, Council considered the latest draft of PC8 and directed staff to work with the Chair on an application for an exemption for parts A and B only. Council agreed that Part C doesn't meet the exemption criteria and is therefore not being progressed at this time.
About Plan Change 8
Water-related changes to several regional plans are collectively known as Plan Change 8.
More on Plan change 8 can be found on pages 41-47 of the agenda for the December 10 Council meeting (PDF file, 1.67MB).
Next steps
There are several steps to be completed before a version of Plan Change 8 can be notified – the first being whether the Minister approves an exemption that would enable it to proceed. If it does go ahead, there will be the opportunity for public submissions and hearings on PC8 once a final version has been notified.
Changes to other plans
Plan Change 8 would require consequential changes to two other plans, the Waipara Catchment Plan and the Hurunui Waiau River Regional Plan, both of which would form part of the request for an exemption.
Waipara Catchment Plan
Plan Change 1 to the plan proposes adding policies to the Waipara Catchment Environmental Flow and Water Allocation Regional Plan (WCP):
- guiding the consent process on the interception of groundwater (including hydraulically connected groundwater) for the operation of infrastructure critical to the community
- clarify the relationship between the Land and Water Regional Plan and the WCP in relation to constructed wetlands.
Hurunui Waiau River Regional Plan
Plan Change 2 to the Hurunui Waiau River Regional Plan (HWRRP) proposes to:
- add provisions to the HWRRP enabling the change of use of water
- clarify the relationship between the LWRP and the HWRRP in relation to constructed wetlands.