News release
25 October 2011

Your environment – are we on the right track?

Greater Wellington’s new regional plan for the environment is being developed and we would like to hear your ideas for improving the management of the air, water, coasts, biodiversity, soils and landscape. Are we on the right track?

“Last year more than 1000 people shared their views about how we should manage our environment,” Greater Wellington Regional Council Chair Fran Wilde says.

“We’ve taken those views on board and developed some proposals to address the big issues - ,

• The use and allocation of our region’s water
• The impact of storm water and rural land use on water quality
• Managing natural hazards, and
• Managing the use of our coastal areas.
•
“It’s time to hear from our community again – have we captured all your issues and are our ideas for addressing them on the right track?”
This year we’re holding six community ‘drop in sessions’ throughout the region where people can give us feedback. Each drop-in session will run from 3pm–7.30pm. “Whether it is for half an hour or for two hours, every person in the region is invited to come along and have their say.

Table of workshop events
Location Date Time (anytime btwn)
Martinborough Town Hall Tuesday 1st November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Masterton Town Hall Thursday 3rd November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Silverstream Retreat Tuesday 8th November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Kapiti Community Centre, Paraparaumu Wednesday 16th November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Pataka Museum, Porirua Thursday 17th November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
ASB Indoor Sports Centre, Kilbirnie Monday 21st November 3.00pm – 7.30pm

”In last year’s workshops people said many positive things about our environment, such as the return of native birds to our urban areas, the good condition of our bush and our generally good air quality. But there was also a groundswell of concern in the community over pollution in rivers and streams, coastal erosion, air quality in some areas, and the increasing demand for water.”

Chair Wilde says anyone can attend the drop in sessions, and Greater Wellington staff will be on hand to answer questions and take feedback.

“We encourage anyone with an interest in a healthy environment – whether you are involved in food gathering, recreation, farming, fishing or adventure sports – to join in. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been involved so far.”

Even if you can’t make the drop in sessions, you can still participate through our online survey. See haveyoursay.gw.govt.nz/your-environment (the survey runs from the end of October until mid December).

For more details www.gw.govt.nz/your-environment

The Regional Plan – Q&A
What is the purpose of a regional plan?
Regional plans contain the rules and policies that govern the use of natural resources and manage the effects of that use. Examples of this include managing what is discharged to land or water, what amount of water can be taken and used from rivers, streams and groundwater, and what contaminants can be allowed to enter the atmosphere.
The Regional Coastal Plan is the only mandatory regional plan; other regional plans are prepared at the discretion of the Council. Greater Wellington currently has four other regional plans – Regional Plan for Discharges to Land, Regional Air Quality Management Plan, Regional Soil Plan and Regional Freshwater Plan.
Why are you doing this now? Aren’t the current plans good enough?
Under the Resource Management Act, reviews of plans must commence 10 years after they have become operative. The first of the current suite of regional plans was formally adopted by Council in December 1999, so we started our review in 2009.
What are you doing differently this time?
GW has a stated commitment to managing catchments in an integrated way, so we will be developing one integrated plan, instead of the set of five that we currently have, thus recognising the inter-relationships between different activities, whether they are on land or water.
This is a plan that we intend to develop “with” the community rather than “for” the community so the final content of the plan will be a result of intensive engagement and discussion with many different parts of the regional community.
How long will it be before the new plan is in place?
Because of our commitment to engage fully with the community, it might take up to three years to develop a proposed regional plan for public submissions. We believe that investing the time in this process will achieve the best outcome. We expect the new plan will be ready for public submissions some time later in 2013. See our regional plan timeline.

What’s already happened?

Last year Greater Wellington held 15 community workshops, meetings with mana whenua iwi and local councils and an online survey to get people’s views on the state of natural resources and on the problems and opportunities with how natural resources are currently managed. The results of those workshops are published in our public engagement report.

What’s happening now and how can people participate?

We’ve developed a range of issues and goals that incorporate people’s views from last year’s workshops, online survey, mana whenua iwi and council meetings as well as information from our science and monitoring and the stock takes of our existing policies. We want people to tell us if our proposals are on the right track.

We’re encouraging people to attend a community drop in session during November – these are being held at the following venues:
Table of workshop events
Location Date Time (anytime btwn)
Martinborough Town Hall Tuesday 1st November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Masterton Town Hall Thursday 3rd November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Silverstream Retreat Tuesday 8th November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Kapiti Community Centre, Paraparaumu Wednesday 16th November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
Pataka Museum, Porirua Thursday 17th November 3.00pm – 7.30pm
ASB Indoor Sports Centre, Kilbirnie Monday 21st November 3.00pm – 7.30pm

People can also complete an online survey about natural resources from early November.
What are issues and goals?
Issues are problems and opportunities for the regional plan to address (Identified through science and monitoring, public feedback and policy reviews)
Goals are statements describing what should be achieved in the plan through policies, methods and rules
What is the status of the current regional plans that Greater Wellington has in place?
All existing regional plans and the rules contained within them will remain in place and operative until the new regional plan is endorsed by the Council.
What is Te Upoko Taiao – Natural Resource Management Committee?
Greater Wellington established Te Upoko Taiao – Natural Resource Management Committee to oversee the development of the new regional plan. The Committee comprises seven appointed members from our seven iwi across the region and seven elected councillors, and builds on the Charter of Understanding the Council signed with regional iwi 15 years ago and the positive relationship the council has with regional iwi.

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