Draft Proposed Plan Change 19

The Essential Freshwater Policy Programme (EFPP) is Council’s work programme to implement the requirements of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPSFM), and also a requirement under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) to review provisions in regional policy statements (RPS) and regional plans every 10 years.

The RMA has specific Freshwater Planning Process provisions, and section 80A(4) requires Council to notify RPS and RNRP changes that fully implement the NPSFM by 31 December 2024.

Our planning framework will need to be updated to give effect to these changes.

The diagam below gives you an indication of Regional Council's timeframe to meet the statutory timeline for notification of the plan and the Schedule 1 process.

Over the past two years, BOPRC has been researching and engaging with hundreds of people about changes to how land and freshwater are managed to address freshwater issues in our Region, and implement the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020. Our 6 month long community engagement period closed on September 30th 2023, and elected Councillors were about to consider releasing a Draft Regional Natural Resources Plan (RNRP) for targeted feedback by the end of January 2024.

In light of the new coalition government agreements and their intentions to set out a 100-day plan, Council will take a pause for a few months to get a clearer sense of the government's intentions and gather more information before deciding on next steps.