The Land and Freshwater Plan will bring together the Council’s two main planning documents for managing activities relating to freshwater: the Regional Freshwater Plan and the Soil Plan.
The Council has completed the following stages in the review process:
- August 2015 - The Council prepared and consulted on a draft Freshwater Plan for Taranaki. Following public consultation, the draft Plan was not notified as a Proposed Plan, as the Council awaited changes to national legislation for freshwater.
- 2016 onwards - The Council continues to seek technical advice from national experts across a range of areas (such as minimum flows) to inform future plan development and build regional context and understanding.
- March 2021 – The Council commenced pre-draft community engagement on freshwater visions for Taranaki.
The consultation process
The Council has been working with stakeholders, tangata whenua and the community to develop a vision for freshwater and how we want to manage our natural resources going forward. The consultation process will occur in four stages.
Phase 1: Developing a long-term vision for freshwater
Through the months of March to April 2021, the Council asked the community what they would like to see for freshwater across the region to guide the development of a long-term visions for freshwater.
Long term freshwater vision PDF (3.4 MB pdf)Phase 2: Let's kōrero
Through the months of October to December 2022, the Council presented the draft Freshwater Management Units (FMU), and sought input on long-term vision objectives and the freshwater values at play in each FMU.
Record of Meeting Commerce and Industry and Special Interest Group 7 April 2022 (659 KB pdf) Records of meetingsPhase 3: Next steps for freshwater
Through the months of September to October 2023, the Council presented the baseline states for key freshwater attributes, sought feedback on the draft Te Mana o te Wai objective, draft long-term visions for each FMU and began discussions about how to set limits and make decisions on resource use.
Taranaki Water Quality State Spatial Modelling July 2023 (6.4 MB pdf) Consultation documents and technical memorandaReports
The Council has prepared or commissioned other reports over the years that assist in understanding freshwater in Taranaki. These are not linked to a specific consultation.
Analysis of stream responses to riparian management on the Taranaki ring plain (2.3 MB pdf)Previous 2015 Draft Freshwater Plan
This early draft of the Freshwater Plan was publicly consulted on in 2015. The draft Plan was not notified as the Council awaited changes to national legislation for freshwater. The draft Freshwater Plan records the thinking at the time and informs the current review process.
Note that reports included here provide background on the 2015 Draft Freshwater Plan and do not reflect current Council planning approach recommendations.