Monday, 21 December 2015

Council adopts programme of staged implementation

Horizons Regional Council has approved a programme of staged implementation to ensure its One Plan is fully aligned with national standards for freshwater management by 2025.

Horizons chief executive Michael McCartney said the One Plan already gives effect to the majority of provisions in Central Government’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM) – something he described as “quite exceptional” given the Plan took life before the NPSFM was developed.

“The One Plan was groundbreaking in its approach to nutrient management but as it came about before the NPSFM was adopted there are a couple of areas we need to more closely to ensure they’re fully aligned,” he says.

The first of these areas is freshwater accounting and reporting to provide an evidence base for future decisions. The second is limit setting.

Horizons strategy and regulation group manager Nic Peet says Horizons has a robust science programme and is establishing a programme of policy evaluation that will focus on the effectiveness of the One Plan, allowing improvement over time. As part of this, the Council will consider how to best address remaining NPSFM requirements.

“It’s important to note that this is not a whole review and plan change process. It’s about looking at where we’re up to and how things are going with One Plan implementation in line with the NPSFM.

“Any changes would be subject to a consultative process,” Dr Peet said.

Further analysis of some Plan provisions, along with an assessment of the region’s water bodies against NPSFM objectives, will be carried out by the middle of 2016. Any amendments to the One Plan to meet NPSFM requirements would follow after that.

More information about the NPSFM is available from the Ministry for the Environment website http://www.mfe.govt.nz/fresh-water/freshwater-management-nps A report to Horizons’ Strategy and Policy Committee on the NPSFM in relation to One Plan provisions is available via the Horizons website http://www.horizons.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Events/Strategy__Policy_Committee_Meeting/2015-12-08_130000/15-263-OP-Implementation-NPS-Freshwater-Management-2014.pdf

ENDS

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