Agenda of Regional Planning Committee

HAWKE’S BAY REGIONAL COUNCIL

Regional Planning Committee

Wednesday 09 May 2012

SUBJECT: Joint Planning Committee - Proposed Legislation

Reason For Report

1. Mark Jacobs, Principal Advisor with the Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS), will be in attendance at the meeting to discuss the Drafting Instructions for legislation to establish the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Joint Planning Committee in law.

2. Mr Jacobs will also use this opportunity to introduce Mr Ron Hooper, Senior Analyst at OTS, who will continue to engage with the Council and Committee on the legislation at the conclusion of Mr Jacob’s secondment.

Background

3. Cabinet has authorised official to consult Hawke’s Bay claimant groups with interests in natural resource management about legislative proposals for the permanent establishment of the Committee.

4. A copy of the Drafting Instructions is attached as Attachment 1.

5. Mr Jacobs will discuss these instructions with the Committee and seek members’ feedback.

DECISION MAKING PROCESS

6. Council is required to make a decision in accordance with Part 6 Sub-Part 1, of the Local Government Act 2002 (the Act). Staff have assessed the requirements contained within this section of the Act in relation to this item and have concluded that, as this report is for information only and no decision is to be made, the decision making provisions of the Local Government Act 2002 do not apply.

RECOMMENDATION

1. That the Regional Planning Committee receives the report.

Liz Lambert

Group Manager External Relations

Attachment/s

1 View

Draft Instructions

Draft Instructions

Attachment 1

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Joint Planning Committee

Drafting Instructions

Cabinet has authorised officials to consult claimant groups with interests in the Hawke’s Bay Region’s natural resource about legislative proposals to establish a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council joint planning committee (JPC). Consultation will be conducted through meetings with those groups.

The proposal for consultation is that the legislation to establish the JPC:

a. establish a statutory body called the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Joint Planning Committee (“JPC”);

b. deem the JPC a joint committee of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council within the meaning of clause 30 (1) (b) of Schedule 7 to the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) ;

c. make the JPC permanent despite section 30 (7) of Schedule 7 to the LGA;

d. name specific post settlement governance entities (PSGEs) as “appointers” with the right to appoint and replace one member of the JPC;

e. provide that other PSGEs can be added to the list of appointers by Order in Council;

f. note the skills required of JPC members;

g. provide that:

i. the JPC’s purpose and procedures would be set out in terms of reference (ToR);

ii. the ToR may be amended by agreement of Council and the relevant appointing bodies (i.e. the PSGEs); and

iii. the JPC can be dissolved by agreement of the HBRC and all appointers;

h. note for clarity

i. HBRC may appoint its councillors to the JPC (consistent with the ToR)

ii. that where a claimant group does not have a PSGE but has a mandate recognised by the Crown, HBRC may appoint a nominee of the mandated body to the JPC; and

i. confirm that, except as otherwise provided, the members and procedures of the JPC are governed by the applicable provisions of the LGA, Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 and Local Government (Members’ Interests) Act 1968 (e.g. conduct of members, competency requirements, and conduct of and procedures for meetings).

HAWKE’S BAY REGIONAL COUNCIL

Regional Planning Committee

Wednesday 09 May 2012

SUBJECT: Policy Development Work Programme

Reason For Report

1. This paper is presented to outline the policy development work programme on Council’s books and to offer an opportunity for discussion among all the Committee members on the timing and priorities contained in the work programme.

Background

2. At the 10 April 2012 training workshop for the tangata whenua representatives (following the inaugural meeting) general discussion on the Resource Management Act led to more specific discussions about the resource management issues in Hawke’s Bay. This in turn led to a request that the full Committee meet sooner than was planned (July 2012) to provide for a korero on these issues and how they may relate to the policy work programme.

3. This paper contains background information on Council’s Land and Water Strategy and policy work programme as well as a summary of the main points raised by the tangata whenua representatives at the workshop. The paper does not put forward a recommendation on how these matters could be dealt with but is intended as a starting point for discussion. A definitive outcome may not be arrived at today but it is important to start the conversation.

Workshop Commentary

4. At the workshop a number of key environmental issues were highlighted by the attendees as being of concern:

4.1. Water quality – especially sedimentation and run-off via waterways to the coast

4.2. Forestry – and the management of slash deposition and its impact upon waterways

4.3. Water takes – the establishment of minimum flows for rivers and streams from a cultural perspective

4.4. Water rights and the perception of these as property rights, which raises the issue of ownership of water

4.5. The management of the adverse effects of human activities

4.6. Use of cultural health indicators to measure water quality

5. Where these matters are not already addressed in our Plans they can be considered as part of any appropriate future changes. It would be helpful to provide Committee members with an outline of the work that has been carried out to date especially around the integration of land and water management. This is the key natural resource management issue for Hawke’s Bay and one that the Regional Planning Committee will be focussing on in its upcoming workload.

6. The remainder of this paper covers the development of the Land and Water Strategy and the specific Plan changes that are arising from this.

Hawke’s Bay Land and Water Strategy

7. The Hawke's Bay Land and Water Strategy outlines the region’s vision and strategic directions for the future management of land and water and is a milestone in the development of land and water management in Hawke's Bay. It is a non-statutory document which means that it is not required to be prepared by law. However, by working in a collaborative way to establish agreement on the high level strategic approach to land and water management it is hoped that the degree of contention during the plan change process can be minimised. Many of the actions will need to be implemented through the planning provisions under the Resource Management Act.

8. Copies of the Land and Water Strategy will be available at the meeting for Committee members.

9. The Strategy gives the community an early indication of how the land and water management framework might change. It was developed through a process of community engagement on water issues in the region. This began with the 2-day Regional Water Symposium in November 2010.

10. At the symposium, nominations were sought for an external reference group to work with Council on the development of policy and directions for a regional water strategy. The selection process aimed to ensure fair representation from industry, tangata whenua, environmental advocacy groups and statutory authorities. In February 2011, Council agreed on the Terms of Reference for the group.

11. The Hawke’s Bay Regional Water Strategy External Reference Group held six meeting meetings through 2011. The initial intention was to develop a high level strategy to tackle matters related to water quantity in order to deal with water management issues in manageable chunks. Water quantity was the focus of the first four meetings.

12. However, land use and water quality remained a concern and was the topic of discussions during each of the meetings. Given the group’s concern that water quality and land use needed to be addressed the strategy covers land use, water quality and water quantity.

13. The Land and Water Strategy was publicly released in November 2011and provides the basis for the Policy Development programme proposed in the Draft Long-Term Plan.

Contents of the Land and Water Strategy

14. The Strategy focuses on future viability and resilience of the region’s land, and regional long-term prosperity through sustainable land use and water management at the same time as maintaining overall water quality. It also lists a number of priority actions that the Council is undertaking in the Tukituki Catchment, the Heretaunga Plains/ Ngarururo catchments and the Mohaka catchment.

15. Key policies in the Strategy relating to freshwater management include:

15.1. Land and water management is tailored and prioritised to address the key values and pressures of each catchment (Policy 1.5) (This will be implemented through the regional policy statement)

15.2. Relevant HBRC investments are aligned to the Strategy (Policy 1.7)

15.3. Adequate transition times and pathways for changes to water allocation and to reach water quality targets are worked out with communities (Policy 1.8) (This will be implemented through changes firstly to the Regional Policy Statement and then to the regional plan).

15.4. Forward thinking water management decisions are made in the interests of longer environmental, economic, social and cultural values (Policy 3.1)

15.5. Large scale community storage infrastructure which can provide increased water security in water scarce catchments is recognised as a key element of long term sustainable solutions (Policy 3.8)

15.6. Develop an integrated catchment approach to land and water management (Policy 3.23).

16. These policies along with others need to be embedded in the Regional Resource Management Plan (RRMP) in order to give context to the catchment specific objectives and limit setting.

17. While all changes have implications for management of the region’s natural and physical resources, changes to the Regional Policy Statement section of the RRMP are much more influential given other agencies (territorial authorities in particular) must give effect to the RPS’s direction in district plans and land use consent decisions.

Policy Work Programme – Regional Policy Statement and Regional Plan Changes

18. There are currently two sets of plan changes underway i.e. that have been publicly notified by Council and for which submissions have been received:

18.1. Managing the built environment: this Plan Change assists in implementing the Heretaunga Plains Urban Development Strategy.HPUDS was jointly developed by the Regional Council, Hastings District Council and Napier City Council, and then adopted by all three councils in August 2010. This Change proposes a number of new policies to provide guidance and direction to Hawke's Bay’s local authorities when making decisions on urban activities, infrastructure and associated effects. It proposes particular policy direction and guidance to urban development in the Heretaunga Plains sub-region. Further submissions on this Plan Change closed on 3^rd May 2012 and the Hearings Panel has been appointed.

18.2. On-site wastewater: this Plan Change proposes an approach which focuses on locations where discharges from waste water systems present a higher risk to the environment – such as sloping sections or near waterways. This replaces the rather blunt approach currently in the rules which is based on zoning. Further submissions have closed and a Hearing is pending.

18.3. River- mouth hazards – a variation to the Regional Coastal Environment Plan, for which hearings are being held this month.

The Regional Planning Committee will have no direct input into these plan changes as both have advanced through the First Schedule process.

19. The upcoming policy work programme is summarised in the following table:

Not available at this time.