The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council wants to thank the Tukituki catchment landowners who have sent in their pre-application or full consents and encourages those who haven’t submitted to do so.

Group manager of Regulation Liz Lambert says the Regional Council understands that the drought is having a significant impact on farming families and appreciates those people who have been able to meet the May 31 Tukituki Catchment Plan deadline.

“We know this is not an ideal time to be carrying out regulation of this kind, and that’s why we are trying to make this process as straightforward as possible.”

“There is still a window of time for landowners to submit their consent applications. We encourage those who haven’t submitted a pre-application or a full consent, to do this in the next two weeks.”

In some cases, landowners may not need a consent if they have made changes to their production system, she says.

“We have engaged with some farmers who were surprised to learn that they didn’t need a consent, because they have reduced their nitrogen leaching. We won’t know about this or be able to help unless people contact us so do get in touch.”

The Regional Council put together a straightforward interim pre-application process to help people meet the deadline. This has been broadly well received by the rural community as a simple way for them to meet the plan requirements, she says.

The interim process only takes about 30 minutes to complete and will be deemed as a placeholder for a consent.

The interim approach is for those individual properties which are exceeding their individual Land Use Capability nitrate leaching limit, and properties located in the Papanui, Kahahakuri and Managonuku sub-catchments, which are catchments that exceed their Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen limit, as well as properties which may not be able to meet the stock exclusion rules.

The limits set by the Tukituki Plan, for the acceptable level of nutrients in both groundwater and surface water, are some of the strictest regulations in New Zealand.

The Regional Council actively works with landowners to reduce the level of nitrogen in the water and improve water quality in Central Hawke’s Bay through the plan.

If landowners require advice from the Regional Council please contact Kate Proctor, Senior Regulatory Advisor at kate.proctor@hbrc.govt.nz or 027 201 9698. Information is also available at hbrc.govt.nz, search: #Tukituki

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