Regional Council releases Hearings Panel Recommendations
28 July 2017
Bay of Plenty Regional Council has publicly released a report today <> from the panel of independent hearing commissioners who were delegated by the Council to hear submissions and
evidence on the proposed Plan Change 10.
BOPRC will consider the report and its recommendations, and make a decision whether to accept or reject the
recommendations at its upcoming Regional Direction and Delivery Committee (RDD) meeting on 2 August 2017.
Plan change decisions are usually conducted in a confidential session, however, the Council has made the decision to
have that discussion in public.
“We are aware that there is an extremely high level of interest in this report from the independent hearing panel,” says
RDD Chairman, Councillor Paula Thompson.
This meeting will now be held in Rotorua given this public interest.
The development of the rules has been underway for three years, and has included more than two years of public
engagement and submissions.
The formal statutory process commenced with the adoption and public notification of the final version of Plan Change 10
in February 2016, with independent hearings held between March and May 2017.
The independent hearing commissioners received submissions and evidence from more than 50 individuals, groups and
organisations.
“The Commissioners spent two months deliberating on the proposed rule change, resulting in the recommendations report
which has been released today.”
Councillor Thompson says the RDD Committee’s upcoming decision is a formal part of the statutory process, and requires
Councillors to maintain an open mind.
“Councillors must ensure that their consideration fairly and evenly addresses the report’s content and recommendations
as they stand, and they are not able to consider any additional information that has not been part of this statutory
process – whether this be from submitters, stakeholders or other parties.
“We are happy to meet with interested parties once the statutory process is complete and from there will determine the
next steps.”
The Regional Direction and Delivery Committee meeting will be held at 9.30am, Baycrest Room, Sudima Hotel, 1000 Eruera
Street, Rotorua. Members of the public are welcome to attend to listen to Councillors consider these independent panel
recommendations.
Background
The Proposed Plan Change 10 to Regional Water and Land has been in development since 2012 and aims to introduce rules
that limit the amount of nitrogen entering Lake Rotorua from land use to improve water quality.
To meet water quality standards set by the community, nitrogen entering the lake must reduce by 320 tonnes by 2032. Less
than half of that, 140 tonnes, will come from these proposed rules, through a change to the way rural land is used in
the Lake Rotorua catchment.
The proposed rules are just one part of the framework to achieve nitrogen reduction. An additional reduction of 100
tonnes of nitrogen will come from voluntary land use changes purchased by the Lake Rotorua Incentives Board; 30 tonnes
will come from voluntary gorse conversion to trees; while 50 tonnes will come from engineering initiatives.
Rules Engagement
After a series of public hui, workshops and drop-in sessions, two draft versions of Plan Change 10 were released in 2015
for formal feedback, with the final version adopted by Council and publicly notified under the Resource Management Act
in February 2016.
This was followed by a further engagement phase, culminating in a total of 112 submissions, and leading to the
establishment of an independent hearing panel.
ENDS