Environment Centre's
Draft Feedback to
Regional Policy Statement
You now have the opportunity to help shape the future environment of Northland and support the well being of all its inhabitants by having your say in the Northland Regional Council's upcoming review of its Regional Policy Statement. This review not only gives you the opportunity to respond to the Council's discussion paper, it gives you the chance to put forward what you think is important for Northland's future development. We have included the link to the discussion document here.
... and we have summarised some of the issues that we feel need a public response. By either using the feedback forms on the NRC website or adding your name and details to the responses we have included below (modifying as you see fit) you can help to create the Northland that your children will be proud of.
Please take a few minutes to read the summary below and spend at least a few minutes 'getting in the loop' of this importance process.
Summary - including notes from the NRC's background 'thinkpiece' for the RPS:
The Regional Policy Statement is an over-arching document that guides regional and district authorities as they create plans and fulfill their roles as environmental managers. It is a requirement of the Resource Management Act that regional authorities develop the Policy Statement in consultaion with the community and review it on a 10 yearly basis.
Section 59 of the RMA states:
The purpose of a regional policy statement is to achieve the purpose of the Act by providing an overview of the resource management issues of the region and policies and methods to achieve integrated management of the natural and physical resources of the whole region. (underlining added for emphasis)
Section 62(1) sets out the mandatory content requirements for regional policy statements beginning with:
(a) The significant resource management issues of the region.
In the context of resource management planning, an ‘issue’ is generally defined as an existing or potential problem that must be resolved to promote the purpose of the RMA.
Issues may be to do with the effects of human use and development of the natural environment or with the information needs and processes required to manage these effects.
Importantly there is also now the requirement for regional and district plans to “give effect to” the RPS.
The 2002 amendments to the Local Government Act expanded the powers of regional councils including the allowance for them to play a broad role in promoting the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of their communities, taking a sustainable development approach.
Until the Policy Statement actually contains a definition of 'sustainability', much of its content will lack real clarity. The following definitions are food for thought as we consider just what 'sustainability' means in the context of our community and our aspirations for its future.
"Weak sustainability is where the three elements are seen as being able to be substituted for or traded off against each other with the proviso that there is no net loss in the total man-made and natural capital. For example, part of the natural environment may be allowed to be degraded - to provide for urban expansion or industrial development for example – provided that there is a concomitant increase in social or economic well-being to compensate for the loss.
In strong sustainable development, economic development is a central consideration but it is encompassed within the wider range of activities and issues contributing to societal well-being (which extend beyond the economic). More importantly, both the economy and society are seen as needing to work within natural environmental limits as discussed above.
In the context of the overarching NRC’s Regional Growth Programme, a central political consideration in the review of the RPS will be whether protection and enhancement of the natural environment within growth areas is considered a primary or discretionary constraint, i.e. what value is placed on the environment.
Relevant RPS provisions (as summarised in the NRC's background to the RPS docment) could include:
- Express reference to the Regional Growth Programme
- Support for informal landuse planning techniques, e.g. structure planning
- Express recognition of the importance of regional infrastructure to social and economic well-being
- Policies and methods relating to the capture and provision of relevant information on different sectors within the regional economy for use in RMA planning and consent processes
- Specific policy direction to address trade-offs (within legal bounds) between the economic, social and environmental outcomes in relation to key industry or infrastructural proposals
- Promotion of further streamlining of consent processes to reduce transaction costs particularly where consents from both the NRC and district councils are required.
- The second generation RPS provides an opportunity to extend that understanding to develop, or encourage the development of, systems-based approaches to resource management. This would facilitate the development of more effective policies and procedures for assessing cumulative effects or for balancing competing values and uses of resources at the planning level.
- Improved feedback mechanisms to incorporate the results of monitoring into policy and plan preparation and review processes
Have your say by Email:
The following feedback forms have some suggested responses as compiled by the team here at the Far North Environment Centre.
n.b. Do not email these to the Environment Centre. They need to be sent, with your name and details attached, to mailroom@nrc.govt.nz
If you prefer to start with a blank page and write your own response, download the Word response form relevant to the resource area/s you would like to comment on from the NRC website at feedback forms, save it to your computer. Complete the form and email a copy to NRC at: mailroom@nrc.govt.nz
Have your say by post or fax
Download the pdf feedback forms relevant to the resource area/s you would like to comment on, complete your feedback and post or fax it back to NRC at: New RPS
Northland Regional Council
Freepost 139690
Private Bag 9021
WhÄngÄrei Mail Centre
WhÄngÄrei 0148
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