MEDIA RELEASE

LGNZ: Land and Water Forum report welcome but more work to be done

18 May 2012

Local Government New Zealand welcomed today’s release of the second Land and Water Forum (LAWF) report, saying that it will be the basis of public discussion and ongoing policy development round the complex issues of limit setting and allocation.

“We support the intent of collaborative processes in developing plans but we are concerned that there is still work to do around the role of the Environment Court,” says LGNZ Regional Sector Chair, Fran Wilde.

“The issue of appeal rights is a difficult one, but it needs to be addressed by the Government if we are going to have speedier planning processes. The local government sector has long advocated for a change to the court processes which currently add time, cost and uncertainty for all stakeholders.

“We are encouraged by the commitment of LAWF to set objectives for the state of our water bodies and we support the concept that different catchments will have different values and limits,” Ms Wilde said.

“Regional councils are well placed to deal with the water quality challenges and are already fully committed to addressing them, with some exciting recent initiatives.

“For example, a new website has been recently set up to allow the public to find out the state of water quality in rivers right round the country. The sector also has a major initiative to share best practice in dealing with water quality issues.

“All councils take water responsibility seriously. We have more than 450 scientists and other specialists working to understand and manage natural resources and we collect and analyse water quality data from over 1000 sites around the country. We also work very closely with land owners and communities to improve water quality,” Ms Wilde says.

“Generally we think we are doing a good job – but we know we can do better. Our new land and water website is a major milestone in our joint work to lift our game. It brings together water quality data from the 16 regional and unitary councils and presents it in a consistent way allowing users to look at water quality at a river, catchment, regional or national level.”

Ms Wilde said it was planned to add further modules to the site so that it could become a hub for information on New Zealand’s natural resources.

The new website is at www.landandwater.co.nz.

ENDS

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