Date: 10 May, 2013

Hearings on Proposed Regional Policy Statement to Begin

About 400 people are preparing to put forward their cases on one of Northland’s most important local authority plans – including offering suggestions as to how it could be improved.

From Monday 20 May, three independent commissioners (who collectively boast about 80 years’ resource management experience) will spend about five weeks hearing submissions on the Northland Regional Council’s Proposed Regional Policy Statement (RPS) at Whangarei, Moerewa, Kaitaia and Kerikeri.

Kathryn Ross, the regional council’s General Manager Planning and Policy, says legally the RPS must identify the significant resource management issues for Northland and set out how resources such as land, water, soil, minerals, plants, animals and structures will be managed.

Several years in the making, Northland’s Proposed RPS runs to more than 160 pages, as well as more than 1200 pages of supporting documentation and maps.

It has attracted about 1000 submissions during extensive public consultation to date.  The most common submission themes raised have included genetic engineering, mining, the mapping process identifying the region’s outstanding natural areas and coastal land and economic wellbeing.

Ms Ross says council staff and consultants have recently completed reports responding to those submissions and identifying recommended changes to the Proposed RPS.

“From today (subs: Friday 10 May) these reports are available online at www.nrc.govt.nz/newRPS or from any regional council office.  Copies are also available on CD by request.”

She says the independent commissioners will hear from submitters who wish to speak in support of the views they’ve expressed (including what they think about other people’s submissions) from 20 May.

A detailed schedule of hearing dates, times and locations over the five weeks is also available from the council’s website via www.nrc.govt.nz/RPShearings

“Once the hearings are over, the commissioners will then consider all submissions that have been made, along with the recommendations from council staff and consultants, before making recommendations to our councillors on final decisions.”

Ms Ross says while technically it’s a Northland Regional Council plan, in reality the Proposed RPS represents a great deal of work by councillors and staff from across all four local authorities in the region.

“Politicians from all three Northland district councils – as well as the regional council - played a key role in its development.”

She says as part of the lengthy process to date, regional council staff had worked closely with a seven-member committee of regional councillors, the Deputy Mayors of the Far North and Kaipara Districts and a senior Whangarei District Councillor.

“While the Proposed RPS doesn’t set rules itself, it does filter down into district and regional plans which contain the rules around how people, businesses and industry use Northland’s resources.  That’s what’s made the co-operation from right across Northland’s local authorities so important.”

There had also been invaluable input during the process from key stakeholders, tangata whenua and the general public.

Meanwhile, Ms Ross says the full Proposed RPS and its supporting documents are available online via www.nrc.govt.nz/newRPS or at any regional council office.

ENDS

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