Hastings District
Council
Civic Administration Building
Lyndon Road East, Hastings
Phone: (06) 871
5000
Fax:
(06) 871 5100
WWW.hastingsdc.govt.nz
Open
A G E N D A
Strategy and Policy Committee MEETING
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Meeting Date:
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Tuesday,
4 February 2020
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Time:
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1.00pm
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Venue:
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Council
Chamber
Ground Floor
Civic
Administration Building
Lyndon Road
East
Hastings
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Committee Members
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Councillor
Barber (Chair)
Mayor
Hazlehurst
Councillors Corban, Dixon, Harvey (Deputy
Chair), Kerr, Lawson, Nixon, O’Keefe, Oli, Redstone, Schollum, Siers,
Travers and Watkins.
Hastings District Rural Community Board
Chair –
N Dawson
Vacancy – Heretaunga Takoto Noa
Māori Standing Committee Member
Quorum= 8
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Officers Responsible
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Group Manager: Economic Growth &
Organisation Improvement – Mr C Cameron
Chief Financial Officer – Mr B
Allan
Strategy Manager – Mr L Verhoeven
Principal Advisor District Development
– Mr M Clews
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Democracy & Governance Advisor
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Mrs C Hilton (Extn 5633)
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Strategy
and Policy Committee – Terms of Reference
Fields of Activity
The purpose of the Strategy and Policy Committee
is to develop all strategic, policy and planning frameworks for approval by
Council.
Membership
(Mayor and 14 Councillors)
·
Chair appointed by Council.
·
Deputy Chair appointed by Council.
·
1 Heretaunga Takoto Noa Māori Standing
Committee Member appointed by Council.
·
Chair of the Rural Community Board appointed by
Council.
Quorum –
8 members
Delegated
Powers
1) Authority to exercise all of
Council’s powers, functions and authorities (except where prohibited by
law or otherwise delegated to another committee) in relation to all matters
detailed in this delegation.
2) Authority
to exercise all of Council’s powers, functions and authorities (except
where prohibited by law) at any time when the Chief Executive certifies in a
report that;
a) the matter is of such
urgency that it requires to be dealt with, or
b) the matter is required to be
dealt with, prior to the next ordinary meeting of the Council.
3) Establish
strategic direction to deliver Council Objectives and District Vision.
4) Establish
policies and guidelines for decision making to assist in achieving strategic
outcomes.
5) Establish
levels of service across Council services in line with strategic goals and
priorities.
6) Receive
and consider reports from Subcommittees.
7) Develop
draft bylaws for adoption by Council.
8) Develop
and recommend the financial and infrastructure strategies and budgets for the
Long-Term Plan, Annual Plan and Annual Report.
9) Consider
and approve constitutions and any shareholder agreements for Council Controlled
Organisations and other organisations that Council has an interest in.
10) Develop
the Rating Policy for recommendation to Council for adoption.
11) Develop
Funding Policies for recommendation to Council for adoption.
12) Delegations
of powers to sub-committee(s) if so established.
13) Approve
the purchase of and disposal of land (If included in the Long Term Plan).
14) Making
submissions on behalf of Council to proposals by other
organisations/authorities (Local and Regional).
15) Conversion
of terminating leases to renewable leases and the settlement of terms except in
the case of leases under the Reserves Act.
HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL
Strategy and Policy Committee MEETING
Tuesday, 4 February 2020
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VENUE:
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Council Chamber
Ground Floor
Civic Administration Building
Lyndon Road East
Hastings
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TIME:
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1.00pm
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A G E N D A
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1. Apologies
At the close of the agenda no
apologies had been received.
At the close of the agenda no
requests for leave of absence had been received.
2. Conflict
of Interest
Members need to be vigilant to
stand aside from decision-making when a conflict arises between their role as a
Member of the Council and any private or other external interest they might have.
This note is provided as a reminder to Members to scan the agenda and assess
their own private interests and identify where they may have a pecuniary or
other conflict of interest, or where there may be perceptions of conflict of
interest.
If a Member feels they do
have a conflict of interest, they should publicly declare that at the start of
the relevant item of business and withdraw from participating in the
meeting. If a Member thinks they may have a conflict of interest,
they can seek advice from the General Counsel or the Democratic Support Manager
(preferably before the meeting).
It is noted that while Members can
seek advice and discuss these matters, the final decision as to whether a
conflict exists rests with the member.
3. Confirmation
of Minutes
4. Review of RMA
reform Issues and Options Discussion Document 7
5. Additional
Business Items
6. Extraordinary
Business Items
REPORT TO: Strategy
and Policy Committee
MEETING DATE: Tuesday 4
February 2020
FROM: Environmental Planner (Policy)
Craig
Scott
SUBJECT: Review
of RMA reform Issues and Options Discussion Document
1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - TE
KAUPAPA ME TE WHAKARĀPOPOTOTANGA
1.1 The
purpose of this report is to brief the Committee on Council’s feedback to
the Issue and Options Paper for reforms to the Resource Management Act (RMA)
and the Resource Management System.
1.2 The
Issues and Options paper is a discussion document provided by the Ministry for
the Environment (MfE) and does not hold any legal weight. There will be a
formal submission period at some stage after July 2020 once a full review has
been undertaken. At this stage, the Council has been requested to provide
comments for the review panel to take into account. The closing date for
these comments to be received by the MfE is 3 February 2020.
1.3 This
report contributes to the purpose of local government by primarily promoting environmental, social, cultural and economic wellbeing and more specifically through the Council’s strategic
objectives of sustainable use of land and water
resources and providing residential development opportunities.
1.4 This report seeks to provide information on Council’s initial comments
on MfE’s Issues and Options paper for transforming the Resource
Management System with the primary focus on:
· That the reforms do not re-write the RMA in such a way that would
require Council to have to fully review the District Plan, given the time and
resource that has been required to make it near operative
· Other comments on issues in the discussion document for which
comments have been provided
· Recommending that the Strategy and Policy Committee retrospectively
approves Council’s submission to the MfE.
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2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS - NGĀ
TŪTOHUNGA
A) That the Council/Committee receives the report titled Review of RMA reform Issues and Options Discussion Document.
B) That the
Committee endorse the forwarding
of comments, by officers, to the Ministry for the Environment on Resource
Management Reforms.
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3.0 BACKGROUND – TE HOROPAKI
3.1 During
the second half of 2019 the government began the significant task of
undertaking a comprehensive review of the resource management system.
3.2 The
review arose from what is seen as significant pressure on the resource
management system, and the RMA’s failure to respond to these pressures in
a timely and effective manner.
3.3 The
primary pressures which resulted in the review are as follows:
3.3.1 Environmental Pressures, and the inability
to adapt to:
· Climate Change
· Biodiversity
· Degradation to soil, water and vegetation
3.3.2 Population Growth and the inability to
provide for housing and infrastructure in a timely manner.
3.3.3 Rural land uses and the ability to adapt to
change of uses and how this may affect surrounding eco-systems.
3.4 The
MfE review has offered the following potential reasons as to why the RMA has
not responded to the above pressures:
· Lack of clear environmental protections and bottom lines
· Lack of recognition to the benefits of urban development
· Focusing on effects of activities rather than desired environmental
and development outcomes
· A bias towards the status quo and existing uses, even when there is
clear environmental degradation
· Lack of effective integration across the resource management system,
specifically with the Local Government Act (LGA) and Land Transport Management
Act (LTMA)
· Excessive complexity and cost within the resource management system
· Lack of adequate national direction
· Insufficient recognition to the Treaty of Waitangi
· Weak and slow policy and planning
· Weak compliance, monitoring and enforcement
· Capability, capacity and resource challenges in both central and
local government
· Lack of effective monitoring and oversight.
3.5 As
noted above, this is a comprehensive review of all aspects of the resource
management in New Zealand. A final report on this issues and options paper is
due to be delivered to the Minister of the Environment by 31st May
2020.
4.0 DISCUSSION - TE MATAPAKITANGA
4.1 Officers largely support a review of the resource management system.
We agree that the current system does not provide adequate protection to the
long term effects of environment degradation on waterways and biodiversity, nor
does it provide sufficient ability to adapt to the needs of population growth
and to create new urban development areas in sufficient timeframes. There are a
number of inefficiencies within the RMA system, and it does not ensure quality
planning across local authorities.
4.2 The MfE’s review focus appears to be on the need to better
integrate existing systems and legislation, being more outcomes focused with
providing environmental bottom lines, and ensuring better compliance for
existing activities.
4.3 Whilst it’s acknowledged that the reforms have merit and that
Council needs to remain open and agile to changes in its future context, and
strongly promotes the view that second generation plans (such as Hastings
District) have already gone a long way to meeting the stated objectives and
environmental outcomes and are close to becoming operative with substantive
resource having been committed to get them to that point. It is
recommended that any RMA reform that has consequences for District Plans (if
any) need to be managed so that Council’s with recently adopted 2nd
generation plans are not required in the short-term to give effect to a set of
new requirements which would be detrimental to Council in respect of its
planning processes and resourcing.
4.4 Officers are particularly supportive of the need for the RMA to
become more outcomes focused. At present the RMA requires Plans and Resource
Consents to look at the effects of specific activities, rather than looking at
the end outcome of the environment or development. The submission urges that a
focus on the environmental outcomes would ensure greater clarity and certainty
for developers and planners alike.
4.5 Furthermore the concept of spatial plans are supported. The review of
the RMA has proposed that spatial plans which control development across
regions could be useful in controlling land use and development, as well as
encouraging urban development. The Hawke’s Bay region has already
developed a form of spatial plan in the Heretaunga Plains Urban Development Strategy
(HPUDs), which has been crucial in providing for the future urban growth
direction of the District. The review suggests spatial plans as HPUDs could be
required for each region, however they should be given greater
‘regulatory teeth’. They also suggests that spatial plans work
together with the Local Government Act to map out potential infrastructure
spending to ensure prompter development when required.
4.6 In
general, the Resource Management review contains a number of ideas to ensure
greater efficiency in the resource management system which we are interested to
see investigated further. One of the greatest concerns remain resourcing and
funding however. Implementing a number of the discussed options could require
significantly greater financial and human resource investment at national and
local level. It is not clear how this could be achieved, any changes to the RMA
would need to take into account resourcing for any decisions made.
5.0 OPTIONS - NGĀ
KŌWHIRINGA
5.1 Given
the report for the comments on the RMA reforms issues and options paper is
retrospective there are no options.
6.0 NEXT STEPS - TE ANGA
WHAKAMUA
6.1 Council
have submitted their comments on the issues and options paper to the Resource
Management Review Panel.
6.2 The
review panel will review all comments and engage with key stakeholders and
provide a final report to the Minister of the Environment on the 31st
May 2020.
6.3 A
formal report on recommended changes will be provided for submissions at a date
after July 2020.
Attachments:
There are no
attachments for this report.
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SUMMARY
OF CONSIDERATIONS - HE WHAKARĀPOPOTO WHAIWHAKAARO
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Fit with purpose
of Local Government - E noho hāngai pū ai ki te
Rangatōpū-ā-rohe
The Council is required to give effect to the purpose of
local government as set out in section 10 of the Local Government Act 2002.
That purpose is to enable democratic local decision-making and action by (and
on behalf of) communities, and to promote the social, economic,
environmental, and cultural well-being of communities in the present and for
the future.
This report contributes to the
purpose of local government by primarily promoting environmental,
social, cultural and economic wellbeing and more specifically through
the Council’s strategic objectives of sustainable use
of land and water resources and providing residential development
opportunities.
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Link to the
Council’s Community Outcomes - E noho hāngai pū ai ki te
rautaki matua
This proposal promotes the sustainable
use of land and water resources and diversity in housing choice for the
well-being of communities in the present and for the future.
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Māori Impact
Statement - Te Tauākī Kaupapa Māori
The
review of the resource management systems has put particular focus on the
recognition of the treaty of Waitangi and greater support for Maori
participation. There have been questions raised with regards to why Maori
engagement has been poor within the resource management systems over a number
of years. It is apparent that Maori decision making and inclusion of the
Maori worldview will form a significant portion of this review.
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Sustainability - Te
Toitūtanga
Reforms
to the resource management system is likely to have long-term implications on
the sustainability of economic, social and environmental systems. The review
is particularly focused on climate change, biodiversity, water and land
degradation, as well as the ability to provide for urban growth.
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Financial
considerations - Ngā Whaiwhakaaro Ahumoni
There
are no financial implications of this report
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Significance and
Engagement - Te Hiranga me te Tūhonotanga
This /report has been assessed under
the Council's Significance and Engagement Policy as being of low significance.
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Consultation
– internal and/or external - Whakawhiti Whakaaro-ā-roto, ā-waho
There
has been no external engagement to this discussion document. However the MfE
have been in discussion with a number of interested parties in forming the
issues and options paper.
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Risks: Legal/
Health and Safety - Ngā Tūraru: Ngā Ture / Hauora me te
Haumaru
There
are no legal or health and safety risks
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Rural Community
Board - Ngā Poari-ā-hapori
There
are no implications for rural community boards that need addressing at this
stage as this is a discussion document
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