Draft Long Term Plan 2012-2022 - Hurunui District Council

Hurunui Community Long Term Plan 2012 - 2022Activity 2: Resource ManagementOverviewPlans for the futureThe Resource Management activity includes the variousfunctions of Resource Management, such as administering theDistrict Plan, resource consents, township planning, policy andbylaw development.Current SituationResource ManagementOur District Plan has been in place since 2003. This planidentifies key resource management issues for the District andour objectives, policies and methods for addressing each of thoseissues. The District Plan is a legal document which affects the dayto-daylives of everybody in the Hurunui District. The Plan is arequirement of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). Thepurpose of the RMA is the sustainable management of naturaland physical resources while avoiding, remedying or mitigatingadverse environmental effects and providing for the wellbeing ofcommunities. The Plan’s framework provides objectives, policiesand methods to manage the use and development of natural andphysical resources to meet the purpose of the RMA. The currentDistrict Plan has not been frozen in time since 2003. We haveprocessed 31changes to parts of the Plan then, responding toparticular issues such as frost control fans, quarrying and mining,urban and rural subdivision standards. We are also required toreview the Plan every 10 years.To achieve the objectives and policies set out in the District Plan,we set rules and standards which any developments must meet.We process a number of resource consent applications fromapplicants who want to do things that do not comply with theland use provisions of the plan or who want to subdivide theirproperty. Two thirds of resource consents processed relate tosubdivision consents. We grant about 98% of resource consentapplications without public notification within 20 working daysof the application been received. The remaining 2% of consentsrequire notification for a variety of reasons, including situationswhere potentially affected parties have not given their writtenconsents or the proposal sits outside the standard requirementsof the District Plan.We develop bylaws and policies as well as review policy initiativesset by other government agencies, and changes to legislation.We also respond to plans prepared by other agencies to protectthe interests of the Hurunui community. We responded to aproposed Regional Policy Statement and the proposed Hurunuiand Waiau River Regional Plan. We also lodged a submission tothe proposed Biodiversity National Policy Statement and theNational Policy Statement for Electricity Transmission whichrequired us to modify our District Plan within 2 years.We are constantly monitoring the state of the districtenvironment. The District Plan will be fully reviewed over thenext 2 years and we aim to have it fully revised by the end of2013. It will then be available for public scrutiny before it isfinalised. The purpose of this review will be to consider the ongoingrelevance of the resource management issues identified inthe current District Plan and the measures and standards usedto manage these.We have already identified that intensification of land usethrough the availability of reliable irrigation water will need tobe considered. We need to consider a policy position in relationto new data on fault lines and earthquake risk, liquefaction riskzones and possible tsunami hazard areas. In addition a numberof new national policy statements require amendments to theDistrict Plan. For example, electricity transmission. The issueswill be fully canvassed and consulted on with the communityprior to any significant amendments to the current District Plan.In 2008 we developed a non-regulatory Biodiversity Strategyand received a Department of Conservation grant to employa biodiversity field advisor for 3 years which was extendedfor a further 3 years in 2012. We will continue over the nextthree years to partner with other agencies to achieve positivebiodiversity gains for the District. For example funding from theHurunui Waiau Zone committee is being spent on biodiversityprojects in the District. The focus is on collaboration andvoluntary protection.FundingOperational Costs:• Resource Consents are 100% user charges. We maywaive consent fees if provided for in the councils feewaivers, refunds and remissions policy.• Private District Plan Change costs are all met by theapplicant.• Council initiated plan changes are funded by theGeneral Rate.• Extraordinary planning issues will be assessed on a caseby case basis to determine the appropriate method forfunding.• The balance of any costs will be met by a District Rate(known as the planning rate).119