Appeal to coastal plan will be closely watched

Rural activities and farming values must not be swept up into the 'inappropriate' category inadvertently

Bay of Plenty Regional Council is working through the process of reviewing and making changes to the way the natural and physical resources of the coastal environment are managed.

It has been a process spanning several years with final decisions released last month. These will impact most on resource users within the coastal marine area (CMA).

Overall, Federated Farmers is comfortable with where the coastal plan has ended up. The plan is appropriately focused on the sensitive and vulnerable CMA and the activities which occur within this environment.

Land-use activities which occur outside this area are still managed and controlled, in recognition that they too may have detrimental impacts on the wider coastal environment. However, those controls more appropriately sit within the Regional Water and Land plan.

This is an appropriate form of integrated management in our view. An early concern was the coastal plan would apply to a much wider area, prompting Federated Farmers to get involved. We worked hard to ensure the planning framework took into account the fact that a great portion of the landward extent of the coastal environment is held in private ownership and contains lawfully established rural activities.

The federation understands council's Resource Management Act responsibilities. We also consider important values such as the natural character, natural and historical heritage, cultural values and traditions, water quality and access to the coastal environment may require extra layers of land-use controls to ensure values are maintained or enhanced, and inappropriate subdivision, use and development do not take place.

Our view is that rural activities and farming values must not be swept up into the 'inappropriate' category inadvertently. Farming historically has modified most of the Bay of Plenty coast and makes it what we see today. People highly value that pastoral landscape.

The release of the council decision is not the end of the planning process, however. Federated Farmers has recently been informed of an appeal which has been lodged with the Environment Court.

This appeal by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society is seeking wider application of the strict land-use controls and for more areas to be included.

Federated Farmers will register an interest in this appeal to ensure the positive outcomes achieved to date are not unwound.

-Hilary Walker is policy adviser for Federated Farmers