Agenda of Rural Advisory Panel - Friday, 23 June 2023

I hereby give notice that an ordinary meeting of the Rural Advisory Panel will be held on:

Date:

Time:

Meeting Room:

Venue:

Friday, 23 June 2023

12.30pm

Room 1, Level 26
135 Albert Street, Auckland

Ngā Hui a te Rōpū Kaitohutohu Take ā-Taiwhenua / Rural Advisory Panel

OPEN AGENDA

MEMBERSHIP

Chairperson	Cr Andy Baker	Auckland Council
Deputy Chairperson	Alan Cole	Franklin Local Board, Auckland Council
Members	Mike Bramley	Dairy New Zealand
	Jesse Brennan	Federated Farmers of NZ
	Trish Fordyce	National Forest Growers Levy Trust
	Tim Holdgate	Rodney Local Board, Auckland Council
	Steve Levet	Rural Contractors New Zealand
	Greg McCracken	Fonterra Shareholders Council
	Andrew McKenzie	Beef and Lamb New Zealand
	Brian Mason	Land Owners and Contractors Protection Association (Wellsford)
	Annaliese Morgan	Young Farmers
	Leanne Roberts	Horticulture NZ
	Cr Greg Sayers	Auckland Council
	Wayne Scott	Aggregate and Quarry Association
	Geoff Smith	Equine Industry
	Peter Spencer	NZ Forest Owners Association
	Linda Potauaine	Waitākere Ranges Local Board, Auckland Council
	Keith Vallabh	Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association
	Glenn Wilcox	Māori representative

(Quorum 10 members)

Sandra Gordon

Kaitohutohu Mana Whakahaere Matua / Senior Governance Advisor

16 June 2023

Contact Telephone: (09) 8908150

Email: sandra.gordon@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Website: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Rural Advisory Panel

23 June 2023

Update on the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land

File No.: CP2023/07506

Te take mō te pūrongo

Purpose of the report

1. To update the panel on the National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land (2022).

Whakarāpopototanga matua

Executive summary

The National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land 2022

2. On 17 October 2022 the National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land 2022 (‘NPS-HPL’) came into force. The NPS-HPL has one objective and nine policies seeking to protect HPL from urbanisation, rural lifestyle development, subdivision, and inappropriate use and development. A full copy of the NPS-HPL is included in Attachment A.

What does the NPS-HPL do?

3. The NPS-HPL is now a requirement for consideration in current and future planning processes. All resource consent applications must now have regard to the NPS-HPL and all plan changes must give effect to the NPS-HPL.

4. The NPS-HPL requires the Auckland Council to update the objectives, policies and rules in the Unitary Plan to:

· Identify areas of Highly Productive Land (‘HPL’) in the region and map them.

· Restrict urban rezoning on HPL (require other options to be done first).

· Avoid rezoning of HPL for rural lifestyle living.

· Avoid subdivision of HPL.

· Protect HPL from inappropriate use and development.

· Prioritise land-based primary production on HPL.

· Avoid or mitigate potential reverse sensitivity effects on HPL.

Where is the highly productive land in Auckland?

5. The council must map where HPL is in Auckland and that process is described further later in this report. Until the council undertakes this mapping exercise, the NPS-HPL includes a transitional definition of HPL which in the Auckland context includes any land zoned Rural Production, Mixed Rural, or Rural Coastal and has an LUC 1-3 classification.

6. The Unitary Plan maps have been updated to show what land this transitional definition applies to. This can be found on the UP viewer page under the “Information” layer and is called “Highly Productive Land – Transitional definition from NPS-HPL” (https://unitaryplanmaps.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/upviewer/).

7. A map showing land that meets the transitional definition of HPL in Auckland is included in Attachment B.

8. It is important to note that the NPS-HPL states that HPL to be protected must be on rural land and does not apply to any land already zoned urban, future urban, or countryside living.

The effect of the NPS-HPL on development proposals

9. As outlined above, since 17 October 2022 there has been a requirement to consider the NPS-HPL in resource consent applications and plan changes. To determine whether the NPS-HPL applies to a proposal the transitional definition of HPL (as described above) has been used, as the council has not yet mapped the HPL areas of Auckland.

10. Since October 2022 the NPS-HPL has had a significant effect on the processing of some resource consents. A number of applications have been refused or are facing a refusal due to the directive provisions of the NPS-HPL.

11. The NPS-HPL has also had a significant effect on some plan changes. One example is Private Plan Change 73 (O’Hara Farm) in Waiuku that sought to urbanise around 33ha of HPL. This plan change was declined by the independent commissioners due to the impact on the soils and the lack of evidence around the alternatives. Note that this decision has now been appealed to the Environment Court.

12. As the NPS-HPL only recently came into effect, the courts have produced little case law that could assist with the interpretation of the NPS-HPL.

Auckland Council submission on the draft NPS-HPL

13. Auckland Council lodged a submission in October 2019 on the draft NPS-HPL. The submission generally supported the draft NPS-HPL but requested several changes to improve the document. A number of these requested changes have been included in the final NPS-HPL including:

· The mapping of HPL to be high level and based on existing Land Use Capability (‘LUC’) information.

· Determining what is HPL is based on its productive potential and is not altered by temporary constraints (access to labour, water, etc).

· A more robust test of alternatives before HPL can be urbanised.

· The use of the strong RMA term “avoid” in relation to rural lifestyle zoning on HPL.

· Including ad-hoc development (not just urbanisation and rural lifestyle development) in the coverage of the NPS-HPL.

· Requiring that primary production activities must be reliant on the soil resource of the land (i.e. not glasshouses using hydroponics)

14. Some matters that Auckland Council submitted on have not been included in the final version of the NPS-HPL, such as:

· Including the Countryside Living zone in the definition of HPL.

· A clear direction that soil harvesting is not an appropriate mitigation method.

· Clarification that all rural land (not just HPL) has value for primary production.

· Adding a buffer area around the edge of identified HPL.

15. Overall, the final NPS-HPL is generally consistent with the direction of the Auckland Council submission on the draft NPS-HPL.

Next steps

16. The council now has three years to identify Auckland’s HPL in the Unitary Plan maps. The council has a further two years after the mapping to undertake significant changes to the Unitary Plan text to implement the NPS-HPL, including the addition of new rules.

Ngā tūtohunga

Recommendation/s

That the Rural Advisory Panel:

a) whiwhi / receive the report for information and thank Ryan Bradley for his presentation.

Ngā tāpirihanga

Attachments

No.	Title	Page
a ⇩	National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (2022)	15
b ⇩	Map of Highly Productive Land in Auckland (Transitional definition in NPS-HPL)	31

Ngā kaihaina

Signatories

Author	Ryan Bradley - Senior Policy Planner
Authoriser	Warren Maclennan - Lead Officer

Rural Advisory Panel

23 June 2023

Essential Freshwater update - implementation of regulatory instruments and central government publications

File No.: CP2023/07588

Te take mō te pūrongo

Purpose of the report

1. To provide an update on central government’s Essential Freshwater programme and an overview of Auckland Council’s implementation of regulatory instruments.

Whakarāpopototanga matua

Executive summary

2. Central government’s Essential Freshwater programme encompasses several regulatory instruments that came into effect from 3 September 2020. Key regulatory instruments of relevance to this update include:

· the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPS-FM)

· the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater 2020 (NES-F)

· the Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020

· the recently gazetted Resource Management (Freshwater Farm Planning) Regulations 2023 (FWFP)

3. Central government has been working with various interests to address implementation concerns with the 2020 regulatory instruments. Remedies have principally included the 2022 NPS-FM and NES-F regulatory amendments (effective 5 January 2023). In addition, operational support continues to be provided to the system enabling the annual reporting of synthetic nitrogen usage (NES-F regulation).

4. The national stock exclusion regulations continue to be phased in, with the next effective date being 1 July 2023. Dairy, dairy-support and beef cattle, pigs, and deer must be excluded from the bed of a lake or river (having a width of more than one metre) with a minimum set-back distance of 3 metres. Stock can enter the set-back area only when crossing the river or lake, provided that any such crossing is driven and supervised. Stock exclusion also applies to those natural wetlands already identified in an operative regional plan, district plan, or regional policy statement as of 3 September 2020.

5. The last significant regulatory instrument within the Essential Freshwater programme to be introduced is the farm planning regulations, publicly consulted on in 2021. These regulations were gazetted on 6 June 2023 (weblink is Resource Management (Freshwater Farm Plans) Regulations 2023 (SL 2023/113) – New Zealand Legislation). These regulations will be progressively switched on across the country between 1 August 2023 and mid-2025, with the Auckland region likely to be switched on from mid-2024. Such sequencing, including the option of within region geographic sequencing, is intended to aid the uptake of the regulatory instrument by the primary sector, councils and tangata whenua.

Guidance documents / reports published

6. MfE is working with the regional sector and industry bodies to develop technical and policy guidance documents to accompany the roll-out of the Essential Freshwater regulatory instruments. Additional information documents, including guidance and fact sheets, released by central government departments not mentioned previously since the new electoral term from late 2022 include:

a) MfE – National exotic pasture list: Literature Review (published 8 December 2022)

· National list of exotic pasture species: Literature review | Ministry for the Environment

b) MfE – Stock exclusion factsheet (published 8 December 2022)

· Essential-Freshwater-Stock-exclusion-factsheet.pdf (environment.govt.nz)

c) MfE – Natural inland wetland factsheet incorporating amendments to definitions inserted in NPS-FM and NES-F (published 24 January 2023)

· Essential Freshwater: Natural inland wetlands factsheet | Ministry for the Environment

d) MfE / Stats NZ – ‘Our Freshwater 2023’, being the third report for this domain under the Environmental Reporting Act 2015, the intent of which is to bring the latest freshwater indicators together with insights from earlier reports (2017, 2020) and insights from the research literature (published 12 April 2023)

· Our freshwater 2023 | Ministry for the Environment

e) MfE – Freshwater farm plan system overview, regulatory purpose and how to get a farm plan certified – guidance document (published 9 June 2023)

· Freshwater farm plan system overview

f) MfE – Setting out what regional councils could compile for the benefit of catchment interests such that te mana o te wai is incorporated into all aspects of freshwater farm planning and to help farm operators in the preparation of specific farm plans (published 8 June 2023)

· Guidance on preparing catchment context challenges and values information

g) MfE – guidance for farmers and farm plan developers (published 8 June 2023)

· Developing a freshwater farm plan

h) MfE – guidance for regional councils on the role of tangata whenua and how to reflect tangata whenua values in freshwater farm plans (published 8 June 2023)

· Tangata whenua and the freshwater farm plan system. A guide for regional councils

Regulatory and planning updates

NPS-FM implementation

7. The first meeting, for this electoral term, of the National Policy Statement – Freshwater Management Political Working Group occurred on 16 May 2023. Having approved the group’s terms of reference, and reviewed the forward work programme, the Political Working Group agreed to meet at approximately two month frequency. Membership is as follows:

*Member*	*Position on the National Policy Statement – Freshwater Management Political Working Group*
Cr Richard Hills	Chair
Cr Julie Fairey	Deputy Chair
Cr Angela Dalton	Member
Cr Andy Baker	Member
Edward Ashby	Member (Independent Māori Statutory Board)

8. Council planning staff continue to undertake preparatory work for the next public engagement expected in the latter half of 2023. Issues and options papers are expected to be developed to help inform various interests on the nature and extent of NPS-FM issues that require attention through both the plan change process, and complementary non-regulatory activities such as action planning. It is anticipated that meetings with stakeholder groups will be held from late July, and wider community engagement will be in October and November 2023.

9. To achieve the environmental outcomes expected of the NPS-FM, there is a need to consider to what extent other Essential Freshwater instruments will address some of the broader objectives sought (e.g. NES-F, stock exclusion, farm planning), and what non-regulatory elements will similarly and effectively complement the regulatory instruments.

Specified Vegetable Growing Areas, as specified in clause 3.33 of the NPS-FM

10. Clause 3.33 entitled ‘Specified vegetable growing areas’ acknowledges the importance of vegetable production in Pukekohe and Horowhenua and their contribution to national food security. It seeks to provide greater flexibility to improve water quality issues in a way that acknowledges the risks to vegetable production and food security.

11. Since the 14 April 2023 update to the Rural Advisory Panel, there have been further Pukekohe Te Roopu Mahia te Mahi working group hui (4 and 18 May 2023), which are progressing the development of a plan setting out opportunities to use a Jobs for Nature funding allocation of $10 million. This funding will only be available for spend until June 2025, so the plan needs to be finalised this calendar year. Council staff consider that this central government initiative needs to focus and identify specific actions relevant to the water quality issues associated with vegetable production.

12. Following recent severe weather events, the Minister for the Environment wrote to Auckland Council on 4 April 2023 querying how vegetable production was to be provided for through NPS-FM plan changes, including mechanisms for crop rotation, and any expansion of total area of production (acknowledging additional discharges this might create). The Minister requested annual updates through to May 2025, recognising that it is too early in the process for details of possible plan provisions to be made available.

13. Auckland Council staff replied on 19 May 2023 noting the complexities involved in developing responses to the improved water quality outcomes sought by the NPS-FM, while also acknowledging the food security issues. One element of importance to this region is the challenge of urban development in areas where vegetable production is a predominant land use, noting that much rural productive land has already been lost to housing over recent decades.

NES-F: Nitrogen cap national database

14. The national nitrogen cap (N-Cap) reporting tool was released to the public on 29 August 2022 for the reporting period 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022. Prior to the next reporting deadline of 31 July 2023, for the reporting period between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023, the regional sector will focus on sending out nationally aligned communication to farmers. This should have occurred prior to the Rural Advisory Panel meeting on 23 June 2023.

15. Auckland Council’s Regulatory Services staff will also confirm their continued soft approach to non-compliance and non-reporting for the 2022-23 reporting period, with a view to continuing to work with farmers who are either non-compliant or have not reported to date.

16. Work is underway to make improvements to the national reporting tool based on regional sector and stakeholder feedback. Such improvements should aid increased reporting with more robust reporting systems in place.

National stock exclusion regulations effective from 1 July 2023

17. The national stock exclusion regulations commenced on 3 September 2020, with most provisions being phased in over time (the exception was new pastoral systems where all provisions applied from commencement). On 1 July 2023, the following circumstances will require stock exclusion from lakes and rivers with a bed wider than one metre, with a minimum three metre set-back (existing permanent fences or riparian planting that effectively excludes stock need not be moved to the new set-back distance):

a) where beef cattle and deer are break feeding or grazing on annual forage crops or irrigated pasture (and is low slope land)

b) where dairy cattle (except dairy support cattle) and pigs are stocked (on any slope of land)

c) cattle and pigs crossing rivers more than twice per month must use a dedicated culvert or bridge

d) natural wetlands identified in an operative plan, district plan, or regional policy statement as at 3 September 2020.

18. Stock exclusion does not specifically require the erection of fencing, or any other particular method. The obligation is to exclude specific types of livestock in particular circumstances. Despite this regulatory clarification, fencing options will no doubt be the most effective method to use in many cases. The staged phasing in of these national provisions over several years since September 2020 has allowed time for agricultural interests to adjust stock exclusion approaches as applicable. Beyond 1 July 2023, the next effective date for further stock exclusion provisions will be 1 July 2025.

19. The more stringent stock exclusion provisions apply when comparing the national regulations with the existing stock exclusion provisions in the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) – the latter becoming effective from 16 November 2021, although more stringent AUP provisions for intermittent stream reaches become effective from 16 November 2026.

20. Over time, and for the livestock covered by the national regulations, the consistency and greater stringency provided nationally will likely replace the AUP stock exclusion provisions. AUP provisions for other livestock types (e.g. sheep, horses, goats, poultry) or other circumstances (e.g. intermittent stream reaches) would still apply though.

21. The AUP provisions for the stated wider range of livestock types may need some reassessment in terms of what methodological approach the council follows to determine when these additional livestock types should be excluded from rivers and lakes. Discontinuing the current AUP methodological approach that specifies the use of livestock density thresholds (i.e. 18 stock units per hectare) for these other livestock types may be one outcome. The national regulations, and the basis for their potential application to other stock types relevant to this region, would provide a consistent methodological approach to stock exclusion generally across the region.

22. Council strategy staff are in the process of updating its webpage to note the latest national stock exclusion provisions, as they apply from 1 July 2023.

Freshwater farm plan regulations (FWFP)

23. Auckland Plan, Strategy and Research staff provided an information memo (dated 22 March 2023, Attachment A) to the Planning, Environment and Parks Committee for their meeting of 30 March 2023. The information memo overviews the regional sector’s national approach to coordinating efforts of regional and unitary councils to regulatory implementation (with central government funding provided) and recommends the sequencing of the freshwater farm plan regulation rollout once gazetted on a region-by-region basis.

24. Sequencing or ‘switching on’ of the regulations by region is enabled through an Order in Council by section 217C of Part 9A of the Resource Management Act 1991. The first regions to be switched on are Waikato and Southland from 1 August 2023 Order in Council for Phase 1 regions. Phase 2 regions (including Otago, West Coast, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Horizons) are likely to be switched on from February 2024. Phase 3 regions will be locked in for the remaining time between mid-2024 and late 2025.

25. Auckland Plan, Strategy and Research staff will be seeking direction from members of the Planning, Environment and Parks Committee to endorse a preference for the Auckland region being switched on through the Phase 3 process, from mid-2024. In doing so, strategy staff are mindful of various relevant factors influencing the best timing for the Auckland region, such as:

a) the preferences, capabilities, and experiences with rollout of adjoining councils (Northland and Waikato)

b) the ongoing building of the Integrated National Farm Database (INFDB) will not be ready before late 2024, but some bridging mechanism will be available for the council to receive the lodgement of certified freshwater farm plans developed prior to late 2024

c) the willingness of the primary sector to make use of this regulatory tool in the Auckland region, including whether that is a shared view by certifiers and auditors, which will be a developing workforce

d) providing an opportunity for mana whenua to consider how they might wish to be involved (as envisaged to be required by the regulatory provisions), most likely for efficiency reasons, from a catchment outcome perspective

e) the preparedness of the Regulatory Services division to foster and develop the contractual relationship with AsureQuality, who are entering three-year service agreements (paid initially by central government, with procurement recently endorsed by the regional sector) with each regional and unitary council to oversee the appointment of certifiers and auditors on council’s behalf

f) implementation of the freshwater farm planning regulations is a statutory obligation of the council to support its resource management function. Should the proposed water services reform proceed, the council will continue to need to fulfil its statutory obligations by retaining responsibilities and expertise currently held across multiple departments, with relevant support from third parties as may be required (e.g. AsureQuality). Given resource constraints, the council will need to distinguish between those elements of implementation that are critical for the introduction of a new administrative system and links to other Essential Freshwater instruments, from other activities that fall to certifiers, auditors, industry bodies, tangata whenua and farmers / growers

g) how the availability of the freshwater farm plan regulatory tool will align with proposed NPS-FM planning provisions scheduled to be notified by the council before the end of 2024, alongside other regulatory or non-regulatory measures expected through the Essential Freshwater Package (e.g. stock exclusion regulations, action plans).

26. Within the Auckland region, and subject to Ministerial agreement on sequencing more generally, there is also the option of sequencing parts of the region before others. For this purpose, staff have discussed using the three Freshwater Management Units proposed for the NPS-FM implementation programme (i.e., Kaipara, Manukau and Hauraki Gulf) as the basis for a finer scale switching on within the region. This might allow for some testing of systems in one area prior to the other geographical areas being switched on, but no later than the end of 2025 when all geographic areas will need to be switched on.

27. Auckland Plan Strategy and Research staff will be socialising these options at a workshop with the Planning Environment and Parks Committee, with a view to receiving direction on any sequencing preferences, bearing in mind the readiness of systems and people both internally and externally. Such committee preferences, as formally resolved (if time permits as Minister will probably wish to see gazetted before general election), will be relayed to central government through the Director Freshwater Farm Plans for the regional sector (Te Uru Kahika).

28. In essence, and starting from mid-2024, there is unlikely to be more than 18 months of time to switch on farm plan regulations across all parts of the Auckland region. Strategy staff have previously advised that about 2,100 farms in total are likely to require a farm plan within the Auckland region. Approximately 900 of the total occur within the (southern) Kaipara Freshwater Management Unit, as administered by Auckland Council. About 750 of the total farms occur within the Manukau Freshwater Management Unit.

29. With the farm planning regulations now gazetted, a national and regional communications plan is being implemented to inform agricultural interests about the new regulations, guidance and fact sheets (see earlier section, and also Rural hub | Ministry for the Environment). In addition, strategy staff have made updates to the council’s webpages and a dedicated council email address has been created on the council’s farm planning webpage to aid interests with queries (freshwaterfarmplans@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz). An overview of these resources will be noted at the meeting.

Ngā tūtohunga

Recommendation/s

That the Rural Advisory Panel:

a) whiwhi / receive the Auckland Plan Strategy and Research staff update on central government’s Essential Freshwater programme and refinements to the regulatory framework, its implementation and interpretation

b) tuhi ā-taipitopito / note that Auckland Plan Strategy and Research staff will be seeking endorsement of farm planning regulation implementation in the Auckland region with the Planning, Environment and Parks Committee, with the main responsibilities for rollout resting with the Regulatory Services division.

Ngā tāpirihanga

Attachments

No.	Title	Page
a ⇩	Planning, Environment and Parks Committee Info Memo on freshwater farm planning, March 2023	39

Ngā kaihaina

Signatories

Author

Dave Allen - Manager Natural Environment Strategy

Authoriser

Jacques Victor – General Manager Auckland Plan Strategy and Research

Warren Maclennan - Lead Officer

Rural Advisory Panel

23 June 2023

Flood Response Work

File No.: CP2023/07885

Te take mō te pūrongo

Purpose of the report

1. To provide an update on the recovery programme from the January Floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.

Whakarāpopototanga matua

Executive summary

2. The Auckland region experienced five significant emergency events in quick succession with the record-breaking rainfall event on 27 January 2023 and Cyclone Gabrielle in the second week of February 2023. Almost the entire region of Auckland was impacted through widespread flooding, landslips, high winds, trees down, extensive power outages, localised flooding and further slips. People were evacuated from flooded homes, west coast communities isolated, infrastructure damaged and loss of life.

3. These events have caused flooding and land instability throughout the region, with a devastating and lasting impact on many communities and individuals. Some Aucklanders are still unable to access their homes, rental properties, or businesses.

4. A Recovery Coordination Office has been established to respond to the storm events of early 2023. Its function is to coordinate regional recovery efforts across the Auckland Council group, New Zealand Government, and other partners. The recovery will be complex, prolonged, and require significant engagement with Auckland communities.

5. The recovery to the combined events is of a scale not previously implemented in Auckland. Affecting most of the Auckland region, the recovery needs to address impacts and consequences across the region from the north to the south, including rural, urban, residential and business areas.

6. A Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Plan (TMRP), supported by a detailed work programme, is under development. The recovery plan will be two tiered, with a region wide-section and sections that are more place-based, aligned to individual or clusters of local board areas. Community engagement planned for August 2023 will inform aspects of the plan.

7. The activities within the recovery portfolio are being developed around four key whenu / workstreams:

· Natural and built environment

· Community and social wellbeing

· Māori participation and partnership

· Economic wellbeing

8. The natural and built environment whenu includes impacts on water supply, wastewater, stormwater and transport infrastructure, geotechnical and ground stability, placarded buildings, building and planning regulations.

9. Key partners for this workstream include Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, Watercare Services, Healthy Waters, Toka Tu Ake/EQC, Insurance Council of New Zealand, insurance companies, Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission / Te Waihanga.

10. A programme within the natural and built environment whenu is the proposed flood risk reduction programme, Making Space for Water. The programme includes a range of risk-based stormwater management interventions such as stream rehabilitation, increased network maintenance and upgraded infrastructure, such as culverts and stormwater detention in parks, along with community resilience and education relates to flood hazards.

The Deputy Recovery Manager, Mace Ward, will attend the meeting and discuss the work going forward.

Ngā tūtohunga

Recommendation/s

That the Rural Advisory Panel:

a) whiwhi / receive this report and thank Mace Ward for his presentation.

Ngā tāpirihanga

Attachments

There are no attachments for this report.

Ngā kaihaina

Signatories

Author and authoriser

Warren Maclennan - Lead Officer

Rural Advisory Panel

23 June 2023

Healthy Waters regular update - June 2023

File No.: CP2023/07443

Te take mō te pūrongo

Purpose of the report

1. To provide an update on Healthy Waters’ current operational work affecting the rural sector.

Whakarāpopototanga matua

Executive summary

2. This report provides updates on current priority issues for Healthy Waters in the rural sector:

· the Making Space for Water programme engagement

· the Safe Septic programme

· rural partnerships projects.

3. A further update report will be provided to the panel at its September 2023 meeting.

Making Space for Water

4. The Making Space for Water programme is being developed as part of Auckland’s recovery from the flooding events in January 2023 and Cyclone Gabrielle. The purpose of the programme is to establish a practical and achievable programme of operational flood management works for the next six years. The programme sits within the Tāmaki Makaurau recovery programme, under the natural and built environment workstream.

5. Making Space for Water proposes nine key operational initiatives ranging from increased maintenance of council infrastructure to blue-green network projects in some flood-affected areas that are suitable for stream daylighting and rehabilitation. Further investigative and design work is needed before the specific locations for the blue-green networks can be confirmed, however the programme will also include other projects to improve flood management across the region in the short term.

6. Regional public engagement on this programme is required due to the scale of new initiatives, significant impact on budgets, and high public interest in the council’s flood response. Engagement will seek feedback from Aucklanders’ on the overall programme and possible funding mechanisms. Staff will align this engagement to the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Plan, which will take place in August 2023. This will inform the final Making Space for Water programme which will commence later in 2023.

7. During the engagement period, people will be able to share their experiences of the storms and provide feedback on the proposed flood management initiatives and funding mechanisms.

8. Healthy Waters will continue to deliver other immediate stormwater recovery projects and develop the detailed methodology, area prioritisation, costings, and timelines for all work programmes. This will take place alongside work agreed to by the Planning, Environment and Parks Committee (PEPCC/2023/24) and central government policy development.

9. The development of the programme and engagement work is funded through prioritisation of existing regional Healthy Waters budgets in the 2023/2024 financial year and will not have a material impact on the delivery of agreed Annual Budget 2023/2024 outcomes.

Rural Settlements workstream

10. Making Space for Water will invest significantly in urban projects, however some initiatives will predominantly benefit rural communities, including marae.

11. Specifically, the rural settlements workstream proposes the following activities:

· three waters needs assessments for rural communities and rural marae

· co-develop resilience solutions with community and iwi (including mataawaka) to build local resilience through initiatives such as stream maintenance works, guidance and management of overland flow paths, construction of new stormwater infrastructure and repairs to existing infrastructure

· upgrades and repairs to small water assets such as damaged or undersized public onsite wastewater systems or public water supplies

· upgrades to critical bridges and culverts in rural areas

· provide advice to residents on resilient private water supply and wastewater assets.

12. This workstream will leverage existing work being delivered through the Safe Septic programme, the Hōteo sediment reduction programme, and repairs to council-owned water supplies and onsite wastewater systems in rural areas.

13. Healthy Waters are also working to improve flood intelligence to support modelling and early warning systems, and stream rehabilitation work to strengthen stream banks.

Role for the Rural Advisory Panel

14. There are some challenges associated with the Rural Settlements workstream:

· establishing relationships with wide range of communities, given geographic spread

· capacity of community groups and marae that rely on volunteer availability

· property owners may not act if they do not understand the impact of their activities.

15. To mitigate these, staff are seeking support from the Rural Advisory Panel members to connect with your communities. This will be critical to ensure their participation in engagement, identifying areas of need, and co-designing solutions.

16. Panel members are invited to advocate to their organisations to provide feedback during the engagement period. Further detail on this will be available at akhaveyoursay.nz.

17. Further engagement and programme detail on the Rural Settlements workstream will be provided at the panel’s September 2023 meeting.

Safe Septic programme

18. The Safe Septic programme is a regional compliance programme for onsite wastewater systems. It is funded by the water quality targeted rate and has been running since 2018.

19. The programme establishes processes to make it easier to receive, review, and monitor maintenance reports for 45,000 onsite wastewater systems in Auckland that do not have a resource consent.

20. There are three key parts to this process:

· a digital form for service providers to fill in,

· a council database that receives and processes the digital forms,

· automated letters sent to owners of properties with onsite wastewater systems who are overdue for a service or for whom the council doesn’t hold information.

21. The digital form has been used since December 2019. There are currently 14 companies using it and they are listed on the council website. This process sets consistent expectations for what should be included in a service and speeds up processing time so that the council can respond to failing systems more quickly.

22. The database was launched in November 2021. It takes data from the digital form or manual input and collates it to each onsite wastewater system. The council’s compliance team use this to track systems that have problems or are overdue for a service.

23. Since July 2022, we have sent approximately 1,000 letters to property owners every month. The letter asks the property owner to send a copy of their latest maintenance record for their onsite wastewater system. The letters are being sent out to different areas gradually. It is expected that at the current rate we will have contacted every property owner by mid-2026.

24. Most of the programme has been handed over from Healthy Waters to the Regulatory department’s Proactive Compliance team. Healthy Waters’ focus going forward is on advocacy to other councils, industry, and government to enhance the consistency of servicing training and monitoring. We expect this to continue after the transition to the water services entity. The processes set up by the Safe Septic programme are leading in New Zealand and will support developing more nationally consistent practices.

Rural partnerships projects

25. A key part of Healthy Waters kaupapa is to take a ki uta ki tai approach – from the mountains to the sea. This includes reducing the impact that land-use has on water quality and supporting restoration and regeneration of waterways. Projects in rural Auckland are currently underway, focusing on partnership with landowners, industry, government, and iwi.

26. Staff are developing lake restoration and aquatic biodiversity plans with iwi, farmers, and landowners.

27. In collaboration with Fonterra, a targeted wetland restoration project identifies priority catchments and strategic restoration activities for wetlands on dairy farms.

28. Regenerative agriculture workshops are being run in collaboration with Quorum Sense, a farming community forum, on soil health and how to make farms more resilient and environmentally friendly using regenerative principles.

29. Collaboration with the Ministry of Primary Industries has started development of a strategy to manage hill country erosion and identify areas suitable for restoration. Sites will be identified based on output from the prioritisation framework and the Freshwater Management Tool.

30. The Ministry for the Environment has funded a catchment coordinator within Healthy Waters to support rural catchments. This is currently being recruited for a three-year position.

31. In addition to these projects, staff also undertake engagement and education, including attendance at Field days, supporting landowner stream restoration, and projects to improve water quality in the Mahurangi and Kaipara harbours.

32. Staff encourage Rural Advisory Panel members to consider how Healthy Waters can build further partnerships or reach out for further information.

Ngā tūtohunga

Recommendation

That the Rural Advisory Panel:

a) whiwhi / receive the June 2023 update on Healthy Waters’ current operational work affecting the rural sector.

Ngā tāpirihanga

Attachments

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Ngā kaihaina

Signatories

Author

Elizabeth Johnson – Senior Specialist, Wai Ora Strategic Programmes

Authorisers

Craig Mcilroy – General Manager Healthy Waters

Barry Potter - Director Infrastructure and Environmental Services

Warren Maclennan - Lead officer

Author	Sandra Gordon - Kaitohutohu Mana Whakahaere Matua / Senior Governance Advisor
Authoriser	Warren Maclennan – Lead Officer