I hereby give notice that an ordinary meeting of the Environment, Climate Change and Natural
Heritage Committee will be held on:
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Date:
Time:
Meeting Room:
Venue:
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Wednesday, 27
August 2014
9.30am
Reception
Lounge Level 2
Auckland Town Hall
301-305 Queen Street
Auckland
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Environment, Climate Change and Natural
Heritage Committee
OPEN AGENDA
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MEMBERSHIP
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Chairperson
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Cr Wayne Walker
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Deputy Chairperson
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Cr Linda Cooper, JP
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Members
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Cr Dr Cathy Casey
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Cr Ross Clow
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Cr Chris Darby
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Cr Hon Christine Fletcher, QSO
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Cr Mike Lee
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Member Liane Ngamane
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Cr John Watson
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Member Karen Wilson
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Ex-Officio
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Mayor Len Brown, JP
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Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse
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(Quorum 11 members)
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Crispian Franklin
Democracy Advisor
22 August 2014
Contact Telephone: (09) 373 6205
Email: crispian.franklin@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Website: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
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TERMS
OF REFERENCE
Areas of Activity
·
Management and monitoring of Auckland’s bio-diversity and
eco-systems including natural hazards
·
Sustainability frameworks for natural resource management
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Projects and programmes to deliver on energy management and
climate change targets
·
Environmental initiatives including coastal and freshwater
management
·
Environmental and climate change impacts of waste management
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Facilitating partnerships and collaborative funding models to
support environmental initiatives
Responsibilities
Within the specified area of activity the Committee is
responsible for:
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In accordance with the work programme agreed with the parent committee,
developing strategy and policy, including any agreed community consultation, to
recommend to the Regional Strategy and Policy Committee
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Acting as a community interface for consultation on policies and
as a forum for raising community concerns, while ensuring community engagement
is complementary to that undertaken by local boards
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Making decisions within delegated powers
Powers
All powers necessary to perform the Committee’s
responsibilities
Except:
(a) powers that the Governing Body
cannot delegate or has retained to itself (see Governing Body responsibilities)
(b) where the Committee’s
responsibility is limited to making a recommendation only
(c) where a matter is the
responsibility of another committee or a local board
(d) the approval of expenditure that
is not contained within approved budgets
(e) the approval of expenditure of
more than $2 million
(f) the approval of final policy
(g) deciding significant matters for
which there is high public interest and which are controversial
(h) the commissioning
of reports on new policy where that policy programme of work has not been
approved by the Regional Strategy and Policy Committee
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Environment,
Climate Change and Natural Heritage Committee
27 August 2014
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ITEM TABLE OF
CONTENTS PAGE
1 Apologies 7
2 Declaration of Interest 7
3 Confirmation of Minutes 7
4 Petitions 7
5 Public Input 7
5.1 Steph Borrelle - Free of single-use plastic bags in Auckland 7
5.2 Environmental risk from consented activities at Sandspit to the
Matakana estuary and the Hauraki Gulf - Mike Taplin 8
5.3 Work of Urbia Group on urban resilience to Climate Change and
sea-level rise - Bernd Gundermann 8
5.4 Climatology - Andrew Tait, NIWA 8
5.5 Climate Change Adaptation Guidance - Dr Dan Zwartz, Climate
Change Analysis, MFE 9
5.6 King Tide and Sea level rise - Rob Bell, NIWA 9
6 Local Board Input 9
7 Extraordinary Business 9
8 Notices of Motion 10
9 Feedback for Proposed Long-term Plan 2015-2025 Performance
Measures 11
10 2013/2014 Safeswim Summary Report 19
11 Consideration of Extraordinary Items
An apology has been
received from Councillor Cooper.
2 Declaration of Interest
Members are
reminded of the need to be vigilant to stand aside from decision making when a
conflict arises between their role as a member and any private or other
external interest they might have.
3 Confirmation of Minutes
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That the Environment, Climate Change and Natural Heritage
Committee:
a)
confirm the ordinary minutes of its meeting,
held on Wednesday, 9 July 2014, as a true and correct
record.
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4 Petitions
At the close of
the agenda no requests to present petitions had been received.
5 Public Input
Standing Order
3.21 provides for Public Input. Applications to speak must be made to the
Committee Secretary, in writing, no later than two (2) working days
prior to the meeting and must include the subject matter. The meeting
Chairperson has the discretion to decline any application that does not meet
the requirements of Standing Orders. A maximum of thirty (30) minutes
is allocated to the period for public input with five (5) minutes
speaking time for each speaker.
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5.1 Steph Borrelle -
Free of single-use plastic bags in Auckland
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Purpose
1. Steph Borrelle wishes to speak
to the Committee regarding free of single-use plastic bags in Auckland.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) thank Steph Borrelle regarding
free of single-use plastic bags in Auckland.
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5.2 Environmental risk
from consented activities at Sandspit to the Matakana estuary and the Hauraki
Gulf - Mike Taplin
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Purpose
1. Mike Taplin wishes to speak to
the Committee regarding environmental risk from consented activities to the
Matakana estuary and Hauraki Gulf.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) Thank Mike Taplin for his
verbal presentation regarding environmental risk from consented activities at
Sandspit.
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5.3 Work of Urbia Group
on urban resilience to Climate Change and sea-level rise - Bernd Gundermann
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Purpose
1. Bernd Gundermann wishes to
speak to the Committee regarding urban resilience to climate change.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) Thank Bernd Gundermann for his
verbal presentation on urban resilience to climate change.
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5.4 Climatology - Andrew
Tait, NIWA
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Purpose
1. Andrew Tait, NIWA wishes to
speak to the Committee regarding climatology.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) Thank Andrew Tait, NIWA for
this presentation regarding climatology.
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5.5 Climate Change
Adaptation Guidance - Dr Dan Zwartz, Climate Change Analysis, MFE
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Purpose
1. Dr Dan Zwartz, Senior Analyst, Climate Change Analysis, Ministry for the
Environment wishes to speak to the Committee
regarding climate change adaption guidance.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) Thank Dr Dan Zwartz, Senior Analyst, Climate Change Analysis, Ministry for the
Environment regarding climate change adaption
guidance.
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5.6 King Tide and Sea
level rise - Rob Bell, NIWA
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Purpose
1. Rob Bell, NIWA wishes to speak
to the Committee regarding king tide and sea level rise.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) thank Rob Bell, NIWA regarding
king tide and sea level rise presentation.
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6 Local Board Input
Standing Order
3.22 provides for Local Board Input. The Chairperson (or nominee of that
Chairperson) is entitled to speak for up to five (5) minutes during this
time. The Chairperson of the Local Board (or nominee of that Chairperson)
shall wherever practical, give two (2) days notice of their wish to
speak. The meeting Chairperson has the discretion to decline any application
that does not meet the requirements of Standing Orders.
This right is
in addition to the right under Standing Order 3.9.14 to speak to matters on the
agenda.
At the close of
the agenda no requests for local board input had been received.
7 Extraordinary Business
Section 46A(7)
of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as amended)
states:
“An item that is
not on the agenda for a meeting may be dealt with at that meeting if-
(a) The local authority by resolution so decides; and
(b) The presiding member explains at the meeting, at a time
when it is open to the public,-
(i) The
reason why the item is not on the agenda; and
(ii) The reason why the discussion of the item cannot be
delayed until a subsequent meeting.”
Section 46A(7A)
of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as amended)
states:
“Where an item
is not on the agenda for a meeting,-
(a) That item may be discussed at that meeting if-
(i) That item is a minor matter relating to the general
business of the local authority; and
(ii) the presiding member explains at the beginning of the
meeting, at a time when it is open to the public, that the item will be
discussed at the meeting; but
(b) no resolution, decision or recommendation may be made in
respect of that item except to refer that item to a subsequent meeting of the
local authority for further discussion.”
8 Notices of Motion
At the close of
the agenda no requests for notices of motion had been received.
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Environment,
Climate Change and Natural Heritage Committee
27 August 2014
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Feedback for
Proposed Long-term Plan 2015-2025 Performance Measures
File No.: CP2014/16436
Purpose
1. To receive an overview of the
performance information review process and outline the process to finalise the
LTP 2015-25 performance information and targets.
2. To provide feedback on the
performance measures proposed by the business in order to aid the development
of the measures in the draft LTP 2015-25.
Executive
summary
3. Following
the process agreed at the Finance and Performance Committee meeting on 19th
June 2014, the business have developed a draft set of proposed Levels of
service statements and performance measures for the groups of activities that
are relevant for this Committee (Resolution no. FIN/2014/37).
4. This
performance information is currently being reviewed by officers and internal
stakeholders. Our intention is to collate all feedback from this committee and
our internal process and provide this to the business.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) Receive the draft level of
service statements and performance measures for the Solid Waste,
Environmental services and Regional Planning (Environmental) groups of
activities.
b) Provide feedback on the
proposed statements and measures, either through this committee meeting or
subsequently by emailing longtermplan@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
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Comments
5. The Performance Measure
work-stream is conducting a council and CCO wide review of performance measures
for the Long-term Plan 2015-2025. This process was outlined and agreed at the
Finance and Performance Committee on 19th June 2014 (Resolution no. FIN/2014/37).
6. The intended outcome of this
in-depth review is that there will be a succinct set of community focused
performance measures for each group of activities proposed for the draft LTP,
which is aligned to the Auckland Plan.
7. This work needs to be substantially
completed (including political engagement) by the end of October 2014 to
support publication of the draft LTP for public consultation in early 2015.
8. The business has completed an
in-depth review of their level of service statements and measures and these
have been provided in an attachment to this report. This performance
information is currently under review by key internal stakeholders and
officers, including IMSB.
9. Feedback provided through this
committee, our internal processes and IMSB, will be provided back to the
business for them to finalise their proposed performance information.
10. These performance measures will
have targets that will reflect the intended levels of service to be delivered
by the council and CCOs and which will align with financial budgets. These
targets will be discussed at the budget committee workshops in September 2014.
11. The Budget Committee will review
the entire suite of measures and targets proposed for inclusion in the LTP
2015-25 between September and October 2014. The Budget Committee will adopt the
measures and targets on 5th November 2014.
Consideration
12. Performance Information proposed
for Solid Waste, Environmental services and Regional Planning (Environmental)
is included in Attachment A.
13. The internal review is
considering feedback to the business to ensure that the business:
a) reduce the number of measures
that are reported at the LTP level where possible,
b) reduce an over-reliance of
survey related measures, especially at a local level, where sampling errors
are significant, and
c) include
only those measures that have a robust reporting methodology in place and are
important is describing the Council’s performance.
Auckland
Plan Alignment
14. In developing performance
measures, we are ensuring alignment of levels of services with Auckland plan
outcomes and targets which have been set.
15. The performance measures will be
considered only for those levels of services that directly contribute to or
enable an Auckland plan target to be met.
Local
board views and implications
16. Local boards are currently in the
process of providing feedback on performance measures at Local Boards Workshops
and meetings through August. This feedback will be used in finalising the
performance information. Once the Budget Committee have endorsed the
performance measures, we will engage with Local Boards to determine their
targets. This is expected to take place in September 2014.
Maori
impact statement
17. The draft and existing Maori
outcome related performance measures that are being reviewed. Te Waka Angamua
and IMSB are part of the key stakeholders group for this work-stream and are
providing feedback and support on that part of the review. The feedback
received will be used to further develop the current draft performance
information.
Implementation
18. No significant
implementation issues are applicable.
Attachments
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No.
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Title
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Page
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aView
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Environmental, Climate Change and Natural Heritage LoS
& LTP Measures
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15
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Signatories
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Authors
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Tushar Shreyakar – Senior
Advisor CCO
Taryn Crewe– Financial
Planning Manager
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Authorisers
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Ludo Campbell-Reid - Environmental Strategy &
Policy Manager
John Dragicevich - Manager Infrastructure and
Environmental Services
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Environment,
Climate Change and Natural Heritage Committee
27 August 2014
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Environment,
Climate Change and Natural Heritage Committee
27 August 2014
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2013/2014 Safeswim Summary Report
File No.: CP2014/18379
Purpose
1. Auckland
Council monitors the microbiological safety of recreational water across the
region over the summer. This report provides the highlights and a summary of
the 2013/2014 Safeswim programme.
2. The purpose of the Safeswim programme is to determine
bacteriological water quality and reduce public health risk by updating the
public on beach water quality and health education.
Executive
summary
3. Sixty-nine
sites across the region were monitored for 21 weeks from November 2013 through
to March 2014. During this season, 1595 samples, including 194 retesting
samples were collected and analysed. Ninety-two per cent of the 1401 routine
water samples met the Ministry for the Environment and
the Ministry of Health guidelines. Forty-two of the 69
sites did not exceed any guideline levels for the entire season as compared
with 40 sites last season. There were 62 amber alerts and 54 red alerts from
the routine sampling. Health warnings were required for a total of 96 days at
18 sites. Eighty-three per cent of the warnings were due to poor water quality
found in the Waitakere Ranges and Whau Local Board areas.
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Recommendation/s
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) Receive the report.
b) Forward this report to the
Local Boards for their information.
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Comments
Background
4. Licensing and
Compliance Services – Environmental Health (LCS – EH) has taken over the
management of the Safeswim programme from Infrastructure and Environmental
Services – Land and Water Advisory Team (I&ES – LWA) from the 2013/2014
summer season onwards. I&ES-LWA will continue its role in investigations
and reporting of proposed monitoring sites and sites with chronic contamination
issues.
5. Recreational
beach monitoring is undertaken in accordance with the
national guidelines Microbiological Water Quality Guidelines for Marine and
Freshwater Recreational Areas published by the Ministry for the Environment
and the Ministry of Health (MfE/MoH). The guidelines set up three modes for
recreational water quality monitoring for public health
protection:
· Green - safe mode, where bacterial levels
are acceptable for swimming.
· Amber - alert mode, where alert level has
been exceeded, and sampling is increased to a daily frequency to confirm if a
problem exists.
· Red - action mode, where action level has
been exceeded, and water quality is likely to be unsafe for swimming. Health
warning signs are required in conjunction with a media advisory until bacterial
levels return to the safe mode. Signs for marine water require two consecutive
exceedances over the action level.
Summary of
2013/2014 season
6. There were no
major changes in the programme as compared to last season. Sixty-nine sites were
monitored weekly from November 2013 through to March 2014. These include 63
beaches, 4 lagoons, one stream and one lake. During the 21 weeks of monitoring,
1595 samples were tested comprising 1401 routine samples and 194 samples
collected following sample exceedances.
7. Results were
updated on the Council’s Safeswim website once laboratory results were
received. The public had the option to access the information through the
website, to call the 0800 Safeswim number or to subscribe to a weekly email update.
8. There were
slight changes to health warning criteria for marine water over this season.
When a single sample showed an extremely high reading, a health warning was directly issued without waiting for confirmation
from the second result. In addition, sewage overflow notifications have been
incorporated into Safeswim notifications, as an overflow often affects the safe
status of a monitored site.
Results for
2013/2014 season
9. Figure 1 shows
that 92 per cent (1285 samples) of the 1401 routine water samples collected
from the season met the guidelines. Four per cent exceeded the 'Alert'
guideline levels and four per cent exceeded the ‘Action’ levels (62 and 54
samples respectively). The exceedance rates were slightly lower than those for
the 2012-2013 season (6 per cent and 5 per cent respectively). Details of the
number of exceedances are present in Figure 2 and the results are summarised in
Table 1 of the attachment.
Figure 1:
Proportion of routine results that were within the three modes of the MfE/MoH
guideline over the 2013-2014 Safeswim season
10. Over this
season, 42 of the 69 sites did not exceed any guideline levels for the entire
season as compared with 40 sites last season, which demonstrates overall very
good water quality. Figure 2 only shows sites with exceedances.
11. Figure 2 shows
that six beaches (Amour Bay, Takapuna Beach, Big Bucklands Beach, Little Oneroa
Beach, Blockhouse Bay and Bethells Beach) had only one or two samples over the
alert guideline level. Six beaches (Mulberry Grove Beach, Pah Beach, Mellons
Bay, Clarks Beach, Mission Bay and Sandspit Beach) triggered either the action
level or both the guideline levels once, which required health warnings (except
for Sandspit Beach).
12. Exceedances
frequently occurred at the four freshwater lagoons (Piha South and North,
Karekare and Bethells) similar to previous years, and at seven beaches (Wood
Bay, Laingholm Beach, Huia Beach, French Bay, Christmas Beach, Titirangi Beach,
Te Atatu Beach) located in the Waitakere Ranges Local Board area, as well as
Green Bay in the Whau Local Board area.
Figure 2: Number
of rountine samples exceeding the alert and action guideline levels
13. The Ministry for
the Environment (MfE) uses 95 per cent compliance with its health risk threshold
(action level) as a criterion for beach/freshwater sites meeting the guideline
almost all the time. Over the 2013-2014 season, the twelve sites listed in the
previous paragraph and Judges Bay (Orakei Local Board) failed the compliance
criteria.
14. Table 1 in the
attachment shows that based on non-compliance with the guidelines (both alert
and action), the top six sites with identified poor water quality were Piha
South Lagoon, Bethells Lagoon, Wood Bay, Laingholm Beach, Huia Beach, and
Karekare Lagoon, where non-compliance rates were between 62 to 33 per cent.
When compared to the range of 80 to 47 per cent over the 2012-2013 season, the
2013/14 swimming season appears to have much lower exceedance rates overall.
15. Table 1 in the
attachment shows that health warnings were required at eighteen sites across
the region for 45 occasions for a total of 96 days. The number of warning days
appeared to be significantly lower than the 2012-2013 season when 124 days
required signage. Eighty-three per cent of the health warning days over this
season occurred in the Waitakere Ranges and Whau Local Board areas. This
percentage appeared to be much lower than that over the 2012-2013 season, when
92 per cent of the 124 health warning days occurred in the same area.
16. When compared to
the 2012-2013 season, it appears that this season had improved water quality
results. The rainfall data does not help with regard to understanding the test
results. By contrast, the average total rainfall in the region (298mm) for the
period of November 2013 to March 2014 was significantly higher than last season
for the same period (191mm). Additional analysis was undertaken between two
seasons to compare the number of samples in the Waitakere Ranges area, which
were collected concurrently with rainfall (over 5mm within 48 hours of
sampling). It revealed that more samples were coinciding with rain over this
season. However, further investigations and data would be required in order to
reach a definitive conclusion in respect of this.
17. The Safeswim
webpages have received a total of 16,415 visits over this monitoring season
(November 2013 to March 2014) compared with 3,091 off -season visits (April
2013 – October 2014).
Next steps
18. I&ES – LWA,
who have previously reported on western lagoons water quality impacts to the
Environment and Sustainability Forum, will provide separate updates to this
Committee regarding how they will respond to the water quality issues
highlighted in the Safeswim programme.
19. It has been
three years since the inaugural review of the regional Safeswim programme in
2011. There is insufficient time to carry out a comprehensive Safeswim review
with all affected parties in time for the forthcoming swimming season. This
regional Safeswim review will therefore be carried out next year.
20. The sites in the
former Waitakere City Council area were not included in the 2011 Safeswim
review. The sampling methodology and laboratory contract is different for these
sites. As one aspect of its regional consistency initiative, LCS - EH will
assess the differences between the sampling regimes with the intention to align
these before the forthcoming swimming season in November, to ensure that best
value and efficiency is being provided regionally.
Consideration
Local
board views and implications
21. Local Boards
receive this report for their information.
Maori
impact statement
22. This report does
not require any decision making but recognises that the issue of water quality
has integral links with the Mauri of waterways and harbours and concepts of
Kaitiakitanga.
Implementation
23. This report is for information only and does not have implementation
issues.
Attachments
There are no attachments for
this report.
Signatories
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Authors
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Graham Bodman - Manager Licensing and Compliance
Services
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Authorisers
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Dean Kimpton - Chief Operating Officer
John Dragicevich - Manager Infrastructure and
Environmental Services
Ludo Campbell-Reid - Environmental Strategy &
Policy Manager
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