Environment Minister David Parker has granted the Otago Regional Council a six-month extension to its land and water plan.
Chairman Gretchen Robertson called the postponement a “positive result”.
The council has faced pressure from the minister after a 2019 inquiry by former Environmental Court judge Prof Peter Skelton found that plans by the council to protect freshwater were not fit for purpose.
The council was instructed to first prepare its regional policy statement and then announce a new land and water plan by the end of this year to replace the now outdated Regional Water Plan: for Otago, which has been in place since 2004.
When the council asked to extend its land and water plan last month, it said difficulties in implementing a Supreme Court decision surrounding its regional policy statement and the need to move scientific staff away from the process to tackle drought-related tasks , factors were.
After the extension was granted, Cr. Robertson the minister.
“This is a positive outcome for ORC and those involved in the process of preparing the new plan,” said CR Robertson.
“The focus for ORC, staff and councilors remains on delivering a high quality land and water plan for the protection and enhancement of Otago’s environment.
“There is still a lot of work to be done and everyone involved will continue to work hard to ensure that the new deadline is met.”
In a letter to the council, Mr Parker said the Supreme Court’s decision requiring the council to split the proposed regional policy statement into freshwater and non-freshwater parts played a role in his decision.
Last winter, Judge Gerald Nation ruled that the council was wrong to treat its entire regional policy statement as the kind of planning document appropriate for a new accelerated freshwater planning process.
Only policies for managing Otago’s natural and physical resources that deal directly with freshwater could use the accelerated process, introduced in 2020 to address the decline of freshwater, Justice Nation said.
The hearings for the non-freshwater portions of the regional policy statement are entering their sixth week in Dunedin and are expected to last 11 weeks.
Mr Parker said he recognized the council was the first to navigate using the new freshwater planning process.
The extension he granted would allow extra time for the council’s regional policy statement (RPS) hearings before the land and water plan is announced.
“I note that the Otago Regional Council is the first council to use the freshwater planning process and, given recent court statements, I accept that the RPS process will take longer than originally envisaged,” Mr Parker said in his letter to the council.
The last time the municipality asked for an extension of the land and water plan, it was rejected.
When the council first asked for an extension last year, Mr. Parker commissioned a follow-up study by Prof. Skelton.
That investigation found no reason for the municipality to need an extension.
However, Prof Skelton signaled that a future extension request could be worthwhile.
If the process of regional policy statements presented further complications, that would become clearer early this year, Prof. Skelton said at the time.
Mr Parker granted the council a delay in notifying the proposed land and water plan from the end of this year until June 30 next year.