Federal authorities ask government to halt freshwater rules

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The Farmers Federation is demanding that regional councils halt implementation of freshwater regulations until new government policy is in place.

In its Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, the federation asked the government to instruct councils to suspend the development of new regional freshwater policies and plans until they had reviewed the coalition’s policy.

Although the new Government has made clear its intention to replace the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (NPS-FW), some regional councils, such as Otago, have implemented freshwater strategies and plans based on the policies of the previous Government.

“We are seriously concerned that regional councils continue to develop new plans under the NPS-FM that may prove to be unnecessary before the ink is even dry,” the letter reads.

“This is an unnecessary waste of taxpayers’ money and creates uncertainty for rural communities.”

The Federation’s motion for a bill would exclude the Te Mana o te Wai water quality standard and councils implementing the current hierarchy of responsibilities when considering resource consent applications until the NPS-FM is replaced.

The Federation argues that the current hierarchical process fails to balance environmental, economic, social and cultural values ​​and that, together with the resource management system, it does not reflect the interests of all water users.

Removing the hierarchy will make resource consent requests simpler and cheaper to prepare.

The letter notes that councils such as ECan interpret consents granted under the NPS-FW as requiring that the consented activity must be for the purpose of improving the health and well-being of any water body affected, whether degraded or not.

The way boards define these rules has further implications.

The proposed Otago Regional Policy Statement encouraged the local iwi Kai Tahu to seek to extend this decision-making hierarchy to all aspects of environmental licensing.

“Such a change would impact all industries in Otago including renewable energy, ski resorts, forestry, urban development and food and fibre production, including horticulture and viticulture.”

The federation wants to abolish the low-slope land map regulations that govern access to grazing for cattle, deer and pigs, as well as repeal the winter grazing regulations.

He argues that the NPS-FW maps are inaccurate and unsuitable for managing livestock grazing.

“In our view, farm plans provide a better approach than a nationwide system of ‘blanket rules’ which does not take into account differences across catchments or at farm level.”

Councils can already manage the impacts of winter grazing through regional plans, farm plans or through voluntary catchment groups.

For similar reasons, it wants the requirement for councils to identify and report Significant Nature Areas (SNAs) to be suspended for three years.

On the west coast, almost 25,000 hectares were reported to have been declared as SNAs, with some individual farms claiming 40-60% of their area, while in the far north, 283,000 hectares were declared and entire farms were taken over.

Instead of prioritising specific and important areas, the policy has targeted wider areas, restricting land use and development, the federation says.