Runoff change for One Plan
Horizons Regional Council wants to change nutrient runoff allowed under its One Plan to make it easier for some Manawatu¯ Whanganui farmers to get a resource consent.
The regional council is seeking to reassess nitrogen runoff limits for dairy farms and horticultural units.
Strategy and regulation group manager Nic Peet said most of the plan worked, but the runoff area had caused ‘‘challenges’’.
He said about 180 farmers, mostly in the Tararua region, did not meet the early nitrogen runoff targets in the One Plan and that was to be the subject of a court case.
The council had revised all consents and dairy farmers had effluent and water take consents, but some did not have leaching consents.
‘‘If we insisted all people had to meet the table in the One plan, they would face a significant loss, up to $30,000.’’
Allowed runoff levels depended on the river catchment and a property’s soil type.
Peet said it was set in stone with Overseer 5 used as a base for the One Plan but there had been updated versions of Overseer since, with more knowledge and research.
‘‘In the councillors’ view the plan is at an impasse. They have asked the staff to look at a change.’’
He said any decision to change the plan was open to input from the public.
The target in 20 years stayed the same, but the initial allowable leaching figure would change.
He said any proposed change would first be heard by a Resource Management Act (RMA) hearing committee in 12 to 18 months and if appealed it could go to the Environment Court, and if appealed again, the High Court.
But the idea was for the changes to be uncontentious and go through quickly.
He said there were about 400 dairy farmers in the regional council’s area and most had consents.
Applying the targets in their strictest form would cause economic and social disruption well beyond what was anticipated when the plan was put in place, said Peet.
‘‘Water quality is ultimately what this is about. And it is stable, or improving around all the rivers in the region. But we won’t sit back. We need to continue to limit nitrogen leaching. But we need to have the discussion with farmers and the community about how we do it.’’
Catalyst group consultant and planner Greg Carlyon said the regional council wanted people to think its One Plan was broken, but it could work.
He said the plan had been the subject of three court cases and significant commentary about the regional council and dairy industry ties.
The council was also subject to a significant costs decision, in excess of $100,000 last year, after spending $600,000 to defend its position, and losing.
Carlyon said giving resource consents to existing farmers would cost future farmers.
‘‘It has been our experience that innovative and sustainable farming operations, which need to discharge waste to land, are now being penalised by consents granted which are clearly contrary to the One Plan, and sadly, which have allocated pollution rights to some inefficient uses that it will not be able to claw back for up to 20 years.’’
Carlyon, who was heavily involved in the development of the One Plan, said Horizons was ‘‘catastrophising’’ by saying the plan was broken.