Government Supports Waikato and Manawatū Farmers During Planning System Transition

The Government is taking targeted action to provide certainty for farmers and growers in the Waikato and Manawatū-Whanganui while we transition to a new planning system, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard say.

After 14 years of hearings and appeals, Plan Change 1 to the Waikato Regional Plan is set to land on farmers in a way that is complex, costly, and duplicative, Mr Bishop says.

PC1 arrives at the very moment our new planning system is replacing the RMA. Without action, Waikato farmers face duplicative consenting requirements colliding with the new system: rules written under a law being repealed, old farm plans layered on new farm plans, and consents that may be redundant within a few years.

To provide certainty for Waikato farmers, the Government intends to prevent the restrictive elements on Plan Change 1 from applying during the transition period to the new planning system, Mr McClay says.

Farmers in the Waikato and Waipā catchments will be able to continue operating under PC1’s permitted activity rules during the transition period, while existing controls on land use change and intensification that have applied since 2016 when PC1 was notified remain in place to help safeguard freshwater.

Our new planning system will reduce duplication, cut red tape, and drive simplification. PC1 is on a collision course with these priorities, Minister Bishop says.

The Government recognises the significant work already undertaken by iwi, Waikato Regional Council, farmers, growers and other parties through the PC1 process.

To ensure that this work is not wasted, the Government also intends to legislate to require the new natural environment plan for these catchments under the new planning system to have particular regard to PC1.

The Government is also changing some requirements in Horizons’ Plan Change 2 relating to prescribed nitrogen discharge reductions and consenting pathways.

Horizons Plan Change 2 is in a similar situation, and will likely become operative during the transition to the new system, causing chaos and uncertainty for farmers and growers in Manawatū-Whanganui, Mr Bishop says.

As with PC1, the Government wants to avoid these farmers and growers having to meet requirements that will soon be replaced under the new planning system, Mr McClay says.

To smooth the transition for PC2, farmers and growers will still be required to make ongoing environmental improvements, but the prescribed nitrogen reductions will no longer apply.

New Zealand is grappling with economic challenges, including the cost of living. It is intolerable for any planning instrument to worsen our economic prospects irrespective of its origins, Mr Jones says.

Horizons Plan Change 2 is in a similar situation and will likely become operative during the transition to the new system, causing chaos and uncertainty for farmers and growers in Manawatū-Whanganui, says Mr Hoggard.

As with PC1, the Government wants to avoid these farmers and growers having to meet requirements that will soon be replaced under the new planning system, To smooth the transition for PC2, farmers and growers will still be required to make ongoing environmental improvements, but the prescribed nitrogen reductions will no longer apply, Mr Hoggard says.

New Zealand is grappling with economic challenges, including the cost of living. It is intolerable for any planning instrument to worsen our economic prospects irrespective of its origins, Treaty or otherwise, Mr Jones says.

Both sets of proposed changes would be progressed through an Amendment Paper at the next stage of the Planning and Natural Environment Bills, expected later this month.

Notes to editor: When preparing the first Natural Environment Plan for the Waikato region under the new resource management system, the responsible local authority will be required to have particular regard to PC1 PC1 will continue to control land use change and intensification through requiring consent, and note that this has been in place since 2016 when PC1 was first notified The Amendment Paper releases on Friday 21 August.

Please see the attached factsheet.