"Taranaki Regional Council welcomes the clarity from government on the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.
“It has always been Council’s plan to progress it’s Land and Freshwater Plan to respond to the new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) when it is in place.
“As has been noted in various recent reports to Council, we have always intended to pause and take stock when the new NPS-FM is released. This allows a thorough review of the new regulations and provides time and space for Council to make any necessary adaptions to the draft Plan to ensure that the policy framework is aligned to the new regulations.
“Council is diligently and responsibly working toward replacing our current plan which is 23 years old and no longer fit for purpose.
“We are mindful that some members of our community are keen for us to take a slower pathway to a new Plan, while others are just as keen to see swifter progress and it is always a balancing act to meet the, at times, differing interests of our community.
“The good news is that we’ve had a raft of constructive feedback from the community including industry groups like Federated Farmers about how they want to see freshwater protected and managed in the future. We will continue to work with these groups as we further refine policy settings in coming months.
“These conversations are feeding into the development of a Plan that works for the unique characteristics of our region, which is critical.
“Importantly, the Plan is also at a very early stage of drafting which means we can respond and adapt to reflect whatever the new regulations may be.
“The government has indicated that the new draft NPS-FM will be released for consultation in early-2025 with the aim of being finalised in mid-2025, and Council’s timeline is consistent with this.
“We will notify our plan in alignment with the new direction set by government, which allows time to adapt to changing policy settings and also continue our constructive conversations with the local community.
“Changing government policy settings is a challenge that Councils around the country are facing. We are planning for, and ready to adapt to, not only changes to the NPS-FM but also changes to section 70 of the Resource Management Act, release of Taumata Arowai standards for wastewater and new regulations for freshwater farm plans.
“Councils are well used to working in an environment where government policy settings are evolving. This is not new. What we will do in the meantime is continue to work alongside our community to build solutions that meet the needs of Taranaki.”