Extension on district plan delivery sought
The council is seeking to shift the deadline on delivering the plan to late-January next year from the planned August 29 this year.
It is seeking an extension request from Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds.
Plans changes came under the spotlight on Wednesday when Minister Responsible for Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Chris Bishop said a halt would be made for councils reviewing plans.
He said councils were spending too much time on plan processes which would be "largely wasted" under new government RMA reforms.
Council operations general manager David Bainbridge-Zafar said the council was in a good position.
"The government intends the 'plan stop policy' will be enacted by the end of August.
"Once enacted, councils will be required to stop progressing plan changes and plan reviews that are not yet at the hearings stage," he said.
"Gore District Council is in a good position in that our proposed district plan is already well past that stage — our last hearing was in April.
"Therefore, the minister's comments do not affect our work programme and we still intend to notify decisions on the proposed district plan by January, on the presumption that Ms Simmonds grants our recent extension request."
The proposed plan, publicly notified on August 31, 2023, represents the first full-scale review of the district's planning rules since the current operative district plan came into effect in 2006.
District plans act as blueprints for how land use, development and environmental protection will be managed in the years ahead.
Mr Bainbridge-Zafar said the council needed more time due to a combination of factors that had slowed the decision-making process.
There were more than 130 submissions and nearly 7000 individual submission points, more time was needed to deliver decisions which were "well-considered and legally sound", he said.
Hearings for the proposed plan only began after a nearly four-month delay caused by submission period extensions and issues summarising submissions.
Mr Bainbridge-Zafar said the extra time was essential to complete a thorough and fair review.
Another key benefit of the extension is the opportunity to publish the new plan in an "ePlan" format, which will enhance accessibility and usability for residents, developers and planners alike. — APL
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NZ Herald
38 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Winston Peters: ‘Careless' immigration ‘transforming cities', Nigel Farage's Reform ‘compelling'
Peters, who is the Foreign Affairs Minister, spoke about what he described as an 'alarming development' overseas. 'People are concerned as to where their countries are going, and New Zealanders are no different. They are more acutely aware of the problem we're dealing with here than the politicians are. 'They have seen the international circumstances of careless immigration policies transforming cities, changing cities, changing centuries of development and social life, and people feel at risk because of it.' He pointed to several European countries, including England, where he said there were concerns about 'people who have come there who don't salute the flag, don't salute the values of the country, don't salute the people who were there before them, don't respect the right to have your own religion'. 'These sorts of things are values that we need to stress. If you don't subscribe to that, don't come here.' He believed New Zealand was experiencing similar issues. 'Some of these people are out there celebrating diversity, flying all sorts of flags. We have one flag in this country and it's been there since 1904 ... That's what they should be saluting. People have died for it.' NZ First leader Winston Peters speaks to the Herald about his party's view on immigration. Photo / Mark Mitchell His comments come against the backdrop of the rising popularity of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. It has soared past Labour and the Conservatives in recent polls, though a general election could be several years away. Peters has told the Herald he is 'friends' with Farage and that they communicate. He was 'entertained' by the Reform leader last time he was in the UK. 'I think that there are things to do with that party and New Zealand First which are so similar. That is why we've got confidence going into the future.' Those similarities were 'true grit, determination and principles'. Asked whether he looked at Reform and its targeting of immigration, Peters responded: 'Yes, I do. It's very compelling, but that they had to come to that is a serious worry'. Farage, best known for his Brexit advocacy, takes a hardline approach to immigration policy. Last year, he said British culture was 'under threat' and 'in decline', and proposed a freeze on non-essential migration. He warned of riots last year if migrants did not 'integrate' into their communities. While Farage has faced allegations of emboldening racism – he denies this and says Reform is 'non-racist' - his party appears to be influencing the public debate in the UK about immigration. An Ipsos poll in May found Reform had the highest level of trust on immigration policies, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party has taken a stronger line on border issues. In a May speech, Starmer said the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers'. He later expressed regret after criticism that his comment echoed British politician Enoch Powell, who said in 1968 that the UK's white population could find themselves 'strangers in their own country'. Massey University distinguished professor Paul Spoonley previously told the Herald that he didn't believe there was a similar anti-immigration sentiment here. 'Australia, Canada and New Zealand target skilled migrants, and we use our point[s] system to identify who's going to be appropriate. We have a very managed immigration system. Most of Europe does not.' Winston Peters met Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom last year. Photo / Facebook/Winston Peters 'Still our plan', 32 years on The interview with Peters was held as NZ First celebrates its 32nd birthday. When it was formed, the party laid out 15 principles, including acknowledging that, while New Zealand would need 'overseas skills and expertise', it did not want immigration to be 'an excuse for our failure to train, skill and employ our own people'. That remained 'as much a principle now as it was back then', Peters said. 'We, like wise countries, have always believed we should be training and employing our own people first and not use immigration as an excuse not to do that. That is still our plan.' He expressed concern about the current number of migrants to New Zealand. In the year to May 2025, there was a net migration gain of 15,000, driven by 140,000 arrivals offset by 125,000 departures. The number of arrivals is down from a peak of roughly 235,000 in late 2023, but still above the long-term average of 119,000. However, due to the large number of departures, the net gain is below the average of nearly 28,000. Peters' concern about the immigration figures is in part prompted by his desire for New Zealanders to be employed, but he also remembers a time when arriving migrants were supported by appropriate infrastructure. 'There was a time when we were getting people from around the world putting down £10 to get here. They were coming to a job and a house and infrastructure, schooling, everything. Teachers and doctors and all sorts of people were coming here.' New Zealand's infrastructure deficit and pressures in the health system are well-reported, and Peters said work was under way on a population policy that he hoped would be revealed this term. 'If you're going to bring in people that you essentially need, we've got to make sure we've got the infrastructure for them,' he said. Net migration gain is below the long-term average, but about 140,000 people still arrived here in the year to May. Photo / Alex Burton In 2003, while speaking from the opposition benches in Parliament, Peters complained that 'a hundred thousand New Zealanders are out of work, yet we are bringing in tens of thousands of immigrants'. With Peters now in power, the Herald put it to him that, at the end of June, 216,000 people were receiving Jobseeker support while thousands of migrants were arriving. He responded that, if his party's message had been given more prominence, it would have 'far more members and we'd be in control of the circumstances now'. 'Unfortunately, you didn't, and we're working for the next campaign to ensure that this time our voices are heard on the way through. 'We are still saying that the drivers to take people from secondary school into employment aren't strong enough. 'Too many people are able to access social welfare without making every effort to get employment, to get jobs. How come we've got so many people who are so-called job-ready but not in jobs?' 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Otago Daily Times
4 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Minister keeping eye on consent application
Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says she is "keeping a watching brief" as the application for treated wastewater being discharged directly into the Shotover River makes its way to the Environment Court. And Otago Fish & Game Council chief executive Ian Hadland says the council is confident authorities will handle the situation to safeguard the catchment's outstanding values, including water quality, fisheries and amenity values such as swimming. The Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) began using emergency powers to discharge treated wastewater into the river — in order to bypass failing disposal fields at its Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant — on March 31. Ms Simmonds said she was "aware of concerns" raised about the QLDC decision. "I understand that this is an interim approach while QLDC completes necessary upgrades to its wastewater treatment system," she said. "The need for upgrades to the system was acknowledged by QLDC in its evidence and considered by the panel in its recommendations on Te Pūtahi Ladies Mile Variation." Because the Otago Regional Council granted the QLDC request for its retrospective consent applications for the emergency discharge to be referred directly to the Environment Court she did not have further comment at present. "However, I am keeping a watching brief on the situation." Mr Hadland said the resource consent application was for a "temporary solution" for the Shotover wastewater treatment plant's issues. "We are pleased to see that they are referring it straight to the Environment Court and allowing the public to have a say, because there is high interest in this matter. "We will review the application at that point and consider a submission on behalf of our angling and hunting licence holders." The Kawarau River and its tributaries, which include the Shotover, were protected by a Water Conservation Order put in place in 1997 to safeguard the catchment's outstanding values, including water quality, fisheries and amenity values such as contact recreation, he said. "We remain confident authorities will handle this situation to ensure the provisions of the Water Conservation Order are upheld." Mr Hadland said Otago Fish & Game supported enforcement action taken by the regional council for QLDC consent breaches. "We recognise this is a complex legacy issue and the potential remedies are costly. "We're hoping the QLDC moves quickly on to finding a more permanent solution." Otago Fish & Game was at the forefront of litigation which secured the Water Conservation Order to protect the Kawarau River and its tributaries, he said.— APL
NZ Herald
19 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Love this City: Helipads, Pukekohe soil, Dominion Rd buses, Monte Cecilia dogs and more
The court should be able to decide this quickly. If it rules in the council's favour, the couple will have to halt their plans. But if it rules for the Mowbray-Williams project, the council will draft a plan change to make it 'explicitly clear' private helipads in the suburbs are a 'non-complying activity'. If adopted, that will make them extremely difficult to approve. On Thursday, the council opted for this 'non-complying' route, instead of full prohibition as proposed by councillors Mike Lee and Kerrin Leoni. Lee believes he was 'ambushed' and the vote was a 'stitch-up', which will achieve little. But his colleagues voted against him, 15-7. They had several reasons for doing this and they all boil down to the same thing: they believe Lee's approach was doomed to fail but their approach could succeed. I'll be analysing this in full next week, but briefly: The council does not have the power simply to ban something on the spot. There's a legal process to follow and it usually takes about two years, perhaps double that if there are appeals. Some councillors said it was misleading for anyone to claim a vote this week would achieve that ban right now, or that it would stop Mowbray and Williams. The hearing into the Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams' helipad application was heard by commissioners Dr Hilke Giles (left), chairman Kitt Littlejohn and David Hill. Also, some councillors believe there are parts of some suburbs where a private helipad might be permitted. Definitely not in Westmere, they were completely united on that. But remote Hillsborough cliffs above the Manukau Harbour and remote parts of Howick were both mentioned. More significantly, councillors know the RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has instructed councils not to make any new plan changes because he has the whole act under review. They believe he will not allow a plan change to ban private helipads outright, but he might allow an exemption to make them non-complying. There's also a cost issue: a prohibition plan change could cost the council $1.5 million. Councillor Josephine Bartley had a question for one of the council officials in the meeting: 'Is it fair to say that it's a $1.5m risk for something we already know is not likely? That we won't win?' 'Yes, that's fair,' said planning manager Phill Reid. Councillors voted for the option they thought had the best chance of succeeding, and against the option they thought was, in effect, full of sound and fury, but signified nothing. But it's election time and several councillors are staking out their positions. Paving over Pukekohe paradise Vegetable grower Allan Fong with his elite soil land at Pukekohe. Photo / Trefor Ward The Government is proposing to amend the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL) to remove the protections on 'class 3 soils' that prevent their 'inappropriate land use and development'. It will mean more city in the countryside. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop argues these soils are not as valuable as is commonly thought and there will still be adequate protection for the soils that are genuinely valuable for crops and other agricultural land uses. The NPS was introduced by the Labour Government in 2022; public consultation on the proposed changes closes this Sunday and a decision will follow soon. Soil experts have been making a last-gasp appeal for a rethink. 'The proposal is poorly considered and, if it goes through, would be an irreversible blunder of inter-generational scale, for multiple reasons,' says David Lowe, an emeritus professor of earth sciences at the University of Waikato. 'Future generations ... are being robbed of the potential productivity of versatile soils by people with a vested interest. The Luxon-led coalition Government has an ethical, moral and legal obligation to provide for future as well as current generations.' NZ Society of Soil Science president Pierre Roudier says class 3 soil 'represents the backbone of New Zealand's food and fibre production and high-value exports'. It makes up two-thirds of the land currently protected under the NPS-HPL and supports a wide range of primary production, ranging from dairy and arable farming to viticulture and horticulture. 'Contrary to popular myth,' says Lowe, 'New Zealand does not have large areas of highly productive soils.' Class 1 soils make up only 0.7% of productive soils and class 2 another 4.5%. 'The high-value soils of the Pukekohe-Bombay area have been facing 'death by a thousand cuts' over the past few decades under housing pressure,' he says. The area includes only 3.8% of New Zealand's total horticultural land but it produces 26% by value of our vegetables. Already in Auckland and Waikato, Lowe says, around 33% of the best land has been lost to urban expansion and the process is accelerating. He wants the proposed NPS changes abandoned. Roudier isn't so categoric. 'Research shows that the most pressing issue on HPL is residential lifestyle development, significantly more so than edge-of-city expansion,' he says. Lifestyle blocks, not new subdivisions. 'This type of development breaks up productive farmland into smaller, disconnected parcels, which not only makes the land harder to farm efficiently but also introduces new pressures because of 'reverse sensitivity' (when new residents in rural areas object to normal farming activities, leading to restrictions on farms).' People move to the country, then complain about the country (the same thing happens in central cities). RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. Photo / Calvin Samuel, RNZ Bishop doesn't necessarily intend to remove protections on all class 3 land. The regulatory impact statement on his proposals outlines four policy options, with complete removal being one of them. Roudier supports a 'more balanced option' that would allow councils to enable urban growth on class 3 land but protect it from lifestyle blocks. 'This targeted approach would support housing goals near urban areas,' he says, 'without opening the door to uncontrolled sprawl across the wider countryside'. Quality soils are a long time in the making. Typically, says Lowe, the timespan is 10,000 to 20,000 years. Some take 50,000 years or even longer: the elite soils of Pukekohe have taken several hundred thousand years to develop. Once gone, they're really gone. Halfway down Dominion Rd and stuck Dominion Rd is one of the busiest roads in Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton Auckland Transport wants to extend the bus lane hours on Dominion Rd and the business association is not happy. They may have Mayor Wayne Brown to contend with. Brown has identified road efficiency as one of his key transport expectations. That means doing everything possible to allow traffic on the city's arterials to flow smoothly. 'Smart' traffic lights that give buses priority and recognise and respond to traffic build-ups. The removal of car parks that block peak-time traffic. The use of 'dynamic' centre lanes, which change direction according to the morning and evening demand. On Dominion Rd, which is narrower than most arterials, the key is to keep those bus lanes moving. AT, supported by the Albert-Eden Local Board, isn't proposing anything drastic, like 24-hour bus lanes. All it wants to do is have the peak times start at 3pm instead of 4pm. One hour earlier, which recognises the build-up of school traffic. The Dominion Rd Business Association wants this 'immediately cancelled'. It says the move is 'a premature and economically damaging decision that threatens the livelihood of local businesses'. The bus lanes opened in 2015 and have been instrumental in preventing congestion from creating complete gridlock on the street. Four years earlier, AT predicted that extending the hours would not be necessary until 2041. But in 2011, AT did not reckon with the extent of population or vehicle build-up of the past 25 years. Gary Holmes, manager of the association, says: 'We are utterly dismayed by Auckland Transport's short-sighted proposal. The 2011 report clearly indicated that extending these hours to 3pm was a decades-away prospect, based on future demand. We do not believe the current traffic numbers in 2025 warrant it happening a decade and a half earlier than originally suggested.' Halfway down Dominion Rd, people stuck in traffic may beg to differ. Two things about making bus priority lanes more efficient: it works, and it's one of the cheapest things the council can do to improve traffic flows. There are still many more car parks for shoppers and retail staff in the streets all around that area. More savings at council Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson with the boss. Photo / Alyse Wright The council has an ongoing programme to 'deliver better value', which means finding ways to cut spending. It's run by the Revenue, Expenditure and Value Committee, chaired by Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, and adheres to 10 'better value project principles' set out by the Mayor. After the committee's latest meeting, Simpson reports: 'We have halted several projects to reassess costs, which has seen several repriced considerably lower. This includes the Paremuka Dam culverts in Henderson, where the council retendering the project's contract reduced the construction cost from $3.4 million to $1.9m – saving $1.4m from the focus on value for money.' Staff have also stopped work on two other projects, Milford Marina and Long Bay footbridges, 'to enable costs to be reassessed and delivered lower'. Project manager Mark Townshend says: 'We want all staff consistently applying the principles to their work, so we see every ratepayer dollar used to deliver greater value across our projects.' Townshend says they do around 25 'health checks' in parks and community facilities each month, to see if the better value principles are being applied well. 'Supplier performance workshops are also under way, which enables us to partner with our suppliers to provide better value projects for our communities.' The mayor says the principles have saved $43.2m to date, which equates to not raising rates by 1.8%. Monte Cecilia Park: Dogs can roam, for now Dogs and their owners in the bowl of Monte Cecilia Park, where debate continues over whether dogs should be allowed off-leash. Photo / Owen McMahon Dog Lovers of Monte Cecilia, which says it represents more than 500 dog owners and allies, has gained an interim order from the High Court preventing the Puketāpapa Local Board from enforcing its on-leash policy. A full judicial review is to follow. Monte Cecilia Park is a very beautiful park between Three Kings and Hillsborough, with a large bowl in the middle that can't be used for sports, formal or informal, and has been for many years an off-leash area for dogs. The local board vote revealed a clear political divide. Community & Residents members on the right voted to remove the off-leash status; City Vision members on the left wanted it preserved. C&R has a one-vote majority, but City Vision has 88% of public submissions, a 1000-signature petition and the advice of council staff on its side. The board's decision 'unfairly penalises responsible dog owners and undermines the wellbeing of both dogs and the wider community', the Dog Lovers group said. 'We are committed to ensuring that Monte Cecilia Park remains a safe and welcoming shared space for all Aucklanders.' Board member Jon Turner, who is now a City Vision candidate for a ward seat on the governing body of council, says: 'Communities & Residents members ran on a platform of listening to the community, yet they have twice disregarded overwhelming public sentiment and clear staff advice.' C&R, for its part, is understood to be concerned about the views of some of the residents in a nearby retirement village. Warkworth development heading to court Map of the land Arvida wants the council to rezone for urban development. The yellow area is the proposed site of its new retirement village. The main Warkworth township is below the river at the bottom of the map; the golf course is to the upper right. Next month, the Environment Court will hear an appeal against the council's decision in March to block a private plan change allowing land development in Warkworth. The plan change is sought by the company Arvida, which wants to build a 198-unit retirement village on the edge of town. The council wasn't opposed to the village but objected to Arvida wanting 140ha to be rezoned. Arvida owns 55 of those 140ha. It plans to build on 22 of them and sell the remaining 33. That, as Mayor Wayne Brown said in March, casts Arvida as a land banker: it had bought a larger site than it needed and with the rezoning in place would be able to sell parts of it for a substantial profit. 'Why don't they just build the retirement village?' Brown said. The court hearing comes after talks broke down between the company and the council. Arvida says it wants the whole site rezoned to allow 'a more co-ordinated, master-planned approach to the land', which would 'address the growing and future demand for retirement housing in the area'. Arvida chief executive Jeremy Nicoll describes the process as 'frustrating'. The company believes the council was wrong to block the plan-change request, in part because that prevented 'a fair public hearing'. 'The plan change area adjoins the existing Warkworth urban area, is well connected to Warkworth's many amenities and will integrate with existing and planned infrastructure,' he says. 'This appeal is necessary because due process must be followed when it comes to making important decisions about New Zealand's urgent housing needs.' In March, Brown made his position clear: the council is empowered to make these decisions, and it would continue to do what it considered right, even under threat of legal action. To sign up for Simon Wilson's weekly newsletter, click here, select Love this City and save your preferences. For a step-by-step guide, click here.
