Gisborne seeking exemption from Government’s freshwater plan change freeze

Image of the Mōtū River in December 2014. The Mōtū catchment plan's notifications for plan changes are being pushed back until 2026 following a recent government rule change on freshwater planning, prohibiting councils from notifying freshwater planning instruments. Photo / Liam Clayton

A Government plan change has fired up Gisborne District councillors who are “angry” their plans are interrupted by “Wellington-based” decisions.

The Resource Management Act on freshwater planning had a shift in rules on October 25, prohibiting councils from notifying freshwater planning instruments.

Councils must halt their plans until the end of next year or when the new national policy statement for freshwater management (NPS-FM) is published.

Gisborne councillors voted last Wednesday to seek an exemption for the forestry plan changes to limit slash and sedimentation entering streams and rivers, which they had scheduled to notify in February 2025.

Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Resource Management Act Minister Chris Bishop said he would consider the council’s request.

At the Sustainable Tairāwhiti meeting last week, Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga said he was “so angry” that a “Wellington-based decision” was delaying local decisions.

He was glad the council was seeking exemptions for forestry notifications, but wanted the council to seek exemptions for the other freshwater plans affected - the Motu Catchment plan and the regional policy statement.

“Where does our forestry slash end up? – in our fresh water.”

Wharehinga said it was like thinking about buying a car.

“You can think about what car you would like as much as you like ... but you can’t buy that car until you’ve talked to your significant other,” he said. “That discussion is not happening until 2026.”

Council director of sustainable futures Joanna Noble said the more targeted the council could be in terms of any exemptions, the more likely the success.

“But I am crystal ball-gazing to some extent,” she said.

According to the meeting report discussed by councillors, the proposed changes in the forestry plan are a key response to the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use report, and address commercial forestry’s environmental impacts in the region.

The meeting report, written by council strategic planning manager Charlotte Knight, said delaying would also carry significant reputation risk because of the high ongoing public interest.

“Delaying notification would mean risk mitigation requirements are not in place as soon as possible,” Knight wrote.

Councillor Rawinia Parata said she did not want the council to delay decisions based on “signals and indications and interpretations”.

“The region needs to move forward. If the central government hasn’t provided us with a single date or communication, then we carry on with the work.

“Nothing is more important than our ability to protect our water,” she said.

Councillor Teddy Thompson said councillors were not the ones who made the decision but would reap the consequences of the Government rule change.

“I really struggle with that.”

The new law restricts the council’s work programme in two other areas - their regional policy statement (RPS) and the Mōtū catchment plan.

For the Mōtū catchment plan, a draft had been developed by the Tairāwhiti resource management committee on June 13, 2024. However, Knight wrote in her report an exemption was unlikely to be granted.

Delaying the plan would avoid the need for changes to be made post-notification to align it with upcoming national direction changes, Knight wrote.

The council approved the overarching policy framework for the RPS – “Ki uta ki tai” in June.

The framework recognises the interconnectedness from “mountains to the sea” and considers the impact of council decisions on the entire ecosystem. This integrated approach means many aspects of the RPS relate to the NPS-FM objectives, according to Knight’s report.

A full draft of the RPS chapters was expected to be brought in front of councillors to adopt for public consultation this month, or early next year.

The council agreed to move the scheduled notifications for these plans out by a year to 2026.

At the meeting, council strategic planning manager Charlotte Knight said the other freshwater plans were scheduled to be notified until 2026, and so would not be affected.

Councillor Collin Alder said he heard the concerns but also did not want the council to waste any more energy and then have a policy come through that made that work redundant.

Speaking of other proposed plan changes, Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the minister had given a clear message in the media for forestry – that the changes in the national environmental standards for commercial forestry were more the easy, low-lying stuff.

The minister was aware Gisborne was working with and dealing with the more high-risk areas and was supportive of the work the council was doing, she said.

Stoltz said there was real momentum in the forestry industry with everyone involved trying to find workable solutions that worked for the region.

Drafts of new and amended national directions are planned to be consulted on in early 2025, Knight wrote.

All committee members of the Sustainable Tairāwhiti committee voted to move the agenda forward, apart from Parata, who voted against it.