BEFORE THE HEARING PANEL INVERCARGILL / WAIHŌPAI UNDER the Resource Management Act 1991 IN THE MATTER of the proposed Southland Water and Land Plan MEMORANDUM OF COUNSEL FOR THE SOUTHLAND REGIONAL COUNCIL 26 September 2017 WYNN WILLIAMS Southland Regional Council's LAWYERS Solicitor CHRISTCHURCH Level 5, Wynn Williams House, 47 Hereford Street, Solicitor: P A C Maw P O Box 4341, DX WX11179, ([email protected]) CHRISTCHURCH 8140 Tel 0064 3 3797622 Fax 0064 3 3792467 1 MAY IT PLEASE THE PANEL 1 The purpose of this Memorandum is to update the Hearing Panel on the status of the proposed Southland Regional Policy Statement 2012 (pRPS). 2 At the time of preparing the Section 42A Report, both the pRPS and the operative Southland Regional Policy Statement 1997 (RPS 1997) were relevant to the decisions on submissions on the proposed Southland Water and Land Plan (pSWLP). 3 In the Section 42A Report, the Council Officers advised the Panel that:1 (a) the pSWLP must give effect to the RPS 1997; (b) the Panel is required to have regard to the pRPS, although it was submitted that the pSWLP should give effect to the parts of the pRPS that are 'beyond challenge'; and 4 The Council Officers considered that the pSWLP gives effect to the RPS and pRPS.2 5 At the time of preparing the Section 42A Report, the provisions of the pRPS that were under challenge were in Chapter 4 (Water) and Chapter 7 (Coast), as follows:3 (a) Objective WQUAL.2 - Lowland water bodies; (b) Policy WQUAL.3 - Wetlands and outstanding freshwater bodies; (c) Notified Policy WQUAL.4 - Waituna Lagoon; (d) Notified Method WQUAL.13 - Waituna Catchment. (e) In respect of Chapter 7, an appellant sought the inclusion of a new Objective relating to marine farming in the Coastal Marine Area, together with subsequent amendments to Policy 15.1.3. 6 The appeals on the pRPS have now been resolved and the final consent orders have been issued by the Environment Court. 7 On 20 September 2017, the Southland Regional Council resolved to: 1 Section 42A Report at [2.39]-[2.41]. 2 Section 42A Report at [7.495]. 3 Section 42A Report at [2.34]-[2.37]. 2 (a) amend the pRPS to correct minor errors and make other alterations of minor effect; (b) make the pRPS operative on 9 October 2017; and (c) revoke the RPS 1997 on 9 October 2017. 8 The pRPS will be renamed as the Southland Regional Policy Statement 2017 (RPS 2017). 9 Accordingly, on and from 9 October 2017, the pSWLP must give effect to the RPS 2017. Further, the RPS 1997 will no longer be relevant to the Hearing Panel's decisions on submissions on the pSWLP. 10 A final version of the RPS 2017, which will become operative on 9 October 2017, is attached as Appendix A. 11 For ease of reference, a track change version of Chapter 4 (Water) and Chapter 7 (Coast) of the RPS 2017 is attached as Appendix B, which shows the differences between the versions relied upon for the Section 42A Report and the RPS 2017.4 The track change version shows the changes to Chapter 4 and Chapter 7 as a result of the consent orders issues in respect of the areas that were under challenge at the time of the Section 42A Report (as set out above at paragraph 5) as well as minor amendments that were made under clause 16(2) of Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act 1991. 12 The Council Officers will further consider the RPS 2017, and whether any additional amendments are recommended to the pSWLP in light of the requirement to give effect to the final provisions of the RPS 2017, in their reply. Dated this 26th day of September 2017 …………………………………………. P A C Maw Counsel for Southland Regional Council 4 Minor amendments under clause 16(2) of Schedule 1 of the RMA were also made to other chapters of the RPS 2017, but as these consist of grammatical/formatting issues which have no bearing on the substantive content of the RPS, we have not set out those changes. 3 Appendix A RPS 2017 SOUTHLAND Regional Policy Statement 2017 Table of Contents Foreword .......................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 The Southland region and its resources ...................................................................................... 6 1.3 Legislative context ..................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2: Resource Management Processes for Local Authorities ................................... 14 2.1 Processes for resolving cross-boundary issues and inter-agency coordination of processes .. 14 2.2 Implementation of the Southland Regional Policy Statement by local authorities through plans 15 2.3 Monitoring statement ............................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3: Tangata Whenua ............................................................................................ 17 3.1 ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................ 22 3.2 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 22 3.3 POLICIES .................................................................................................................................... 23 3.4 METHODS .................................................................................................................................. 26 Chapter 4: Water ............................................................................................................. 29 Part A: Water Quality ........................................................................................................................... 30 4.1 ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................ 36 4.2 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 36 4.3 POLICIES .................................................................................................................................... 37 4.4 METHODS .................................................................................................................................. 41 Part B: Water Quantity.......................................................................................................................... 45 4.5 ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................ 48 4.6 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 48 4.7 POLICIES .................................................................................................................................... 49 4.8 METHODS .................................................................................................................................. 52 Part C: Beds of lakes and rivers ............................................................................................................. 55 4.9 ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................ 58 4.10 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 58 4.11 POLICIES .................................................................................................................................... 58 4.12 METHODS .................................................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 5: Rural Land/Soils.............................................................................................. 63 5.1 ISSUES ........................................................................................................................................ 67 5.2 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 67 5.3 POLICIES .................................................................................................................................... 68 5.4 METHODS .................................................................................................................................. 70 Chapter 6: Biodiversity .................................................................................................... 75 6.1 ISSUES .............................................................................................................................................. 79 6.2 OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................................................... 79 6.3 POLICIES ........................................................................................................................................... 80 6.4 METHODS ........................................................................................................................................