ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
PROJECT ACTUAL 2019/2020
Implementing the Resource Policy work programme, including:
• Reviews of, and changes to, the Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP).
• Review of the Tasman Regional Policy Statement and consideration of combining it with the TRMP.
• Development plans for various settlements within the District.
The main priority is currently the review of the Tasman Regional Policy Statement and Tasman Resource Management Plan. This will be a significant undertaking for the Council and community that will culminate in a single new “Tasman Environment Plan”. This year was Year One of the project and involved reviewing how effective the existing plans have been and identifying which parts of the plan have been effective, which parts have not achieved the intended results and also what needs to change.
Implementation of the National Policy Statement for Urban Development Capacity and planning for and responding to urban growth pressures.
The Nelson Tasman Future Development Strategy (FDS) was adopted in July 2019. The FDS is a high-level plan that sets out how Tasman District and Nelson City will accommodate the next 30 years of housing and business growth.
It shows where growth is to be located, and in what form, and what
infrastructure will be needed to support that growth. The FDS was developed as part of implementing the National Policy Statement, along with monitoring and reporting on indicators of housing and business demand and supply.
Implementation of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM).
Implementation is on-going. Changes to the Resource Management Act in June 2020 have brought forward the deadline for implementing the NPS-FM by seven years. Councils are now required to notify plan changes to fully implement the national policy statement no later than December 2024. The Government has since released a new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and a number of new regulations which take effect from 3 September 2020 and will require a review of current work programmes.
Natural hazards strategic policy review.
Review of our natural hazards policy is on track and progressing well. The work remains a priority for Council. There was a successful community engagement process from July to September 2019 on the implications of coastal hazards and sea level rise.
ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
PROJECT ACTUAL 2019/2020
Provision of policy advice. Policy advice is a core Council function and includes advice to the public, developers, iwi, and central government. Advice to central government included submissions on:
• The comprehensive review of the resource management system in New Zealand
• Covid-19 related legislation
• Amendments to the Resource Management Act
• Proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development
• Proposed National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land
• Proposed National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity
• Proposed New Zealand Bio-Strategy
• Essential Freshwater Package (Proposed National Policy Statement and regulations).
Review of the combined Nelson/Tasman Land Development guidelines.
The Nelson Tasman Land Development Manual became operative on 1 July 2019. The Manual replaces the Tasman District Council Engineering Standards 2013 and the Nelson Land Development Manual 2010, and provides one set of standards for the Nelson and Tasman region. It has been incorporated into the Tasman Resource Management Plan through a plan change that became operative in June 2020.
MAJOR ACTIVITIES (CONT.)
ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
PROJECT ACTUAL 2019/2020
Undertake compliance activities to enforce planning rules, bylaws and resource consent conditions, and undertaking enforcement action when needed.
Council staff continue to carry out consent monitoring in accordance with the monitoring strategy, which targets activities in accordance with their risk to the environment. Council spends a lot of time working with users of natural resources and monitoring compliance with their consents. A lot of effort is put into ensuring activities do not create adverse effects on our waterways, air quality, and amenity. When activities are found to be non-complying, Council uses a range of tools to gain compliance, from education right through to prosecution before the Court for serious cases, in accordance with our Enforcement Policy. A summary of the Council’s activities in compliance and enforcement are published each year.
Staff also provide a 24-hour, seven day a week service responding to public complaints. All complaints are recorded and actioned accordingly. The following breakdown records the type of complaints received over the year.
TYPE OF COMPLAINT NUMBER OF
COMPLAINTS 2018/2019 NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS 2019/2020
Noise 882 883
Land-use 201 193
Discharges – Air 403 417
Discharges – Water 61 62
Discharges – Land 73 74
Water takes 83 23
Rivers 55 47
Coastal 34 22
Rubbish Enforcement 28 29
Abandoned Vehicles 307 262
Forestry (NES-PF) – 6
Other enquiries 494 876
Total 2,621 2,894
The results show an overall increase of around 10% on last year’s figures and reflect the continuing trend of increasing complaints over recent years. While many categories did not deviate significantly from last year’s figures, complaints about air quality rose as a result of smoke and odour issues. Customer enquiries also doubled, mostly due to residents’ enquiries in the Richmond Air shed prompted by the monitoring strategy. The only decline was in water related complaints and is accounted for by the fact that in 2018, residents in the district were affected by significant drought and restrictions.
MAJOR ACTIVITIES (CONT.)
ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
PROJECT ACTUAL 2019/2020
Undertaking environmental monitoring of the District’s resources, State of the Environment reporting, hydrology and flood warning monitoring, and provision of environmental information.
Hydrological monitoring, which is an ongoing work programme, was undertaken as planned. Council operates an extensive network for water resources and flood management. The 2019/2020 drought also entailed more detailed work monitoring low flows, groundwater and salinity levels across the district for the Dry Weather Task Force. The more focussed Upper Motueka river flow, temperature and dissolved oxygen data collection work was also completed.
The updated Motueka/Riwaka Plains river aquifer model was completed and reported to Council. Additionally, the Motueka/Riwaka Plains summer survey for groundwater quality was completed and reporting to Council is pending.
The Waimea River/Aquifer model work is ongoing. The model was updated to include the latest land use cover data.
The new Te Tau Ihu Forestry Management Advisor role focuses on improving sedimentation and erosion control following harvesting and supporting the planting of exotic and indigenous forests, working together with iwi to achieve improved environmental outcomes and options for alternative land use for erosion prone land.
Mapping of wetlands in the Golden Bay/Mohua area continued, although unfortunately there was some delay in the project due to Covid-19 lockdown, but additional resources have been secured to enable accelerated coverage in the forthcoming year.
The estuarine fish monitoring project in the Waimea Inlet was deferred due to delays in the approvals process and is programmed for February-March 2021.
Work on the constructed wetland in the Fish Creek catchment was completed.
Progress has been made on catchment enhancement projects in the Sherry River and in the in-stream restoration on the Motupipi with riparian planting progressing as planned. Sediment removal and riparian planting was completed in the Nieman Creek area also.
Providing advice to potential applicants for resource consents and processing resource consent applications and development contribution notices.
Advice was provided by way of Duty Planner appointments at Council’s
Richmond, Motueka and Tākaka offices and by way of customer service requests (CSRs) responded to by email or phone calls.
During 2019/2020, Council completed 1,772 applications for resource consents and related permissions, compared with 1,435 in 2018/2019 (see Appendix 1 for further details).
The Development Contributions Administrator provided advice to developers and builders on Development Contributions (DCs).
Undertaking plant and animal pest management planning and operations, including in Nelson City through a
Tasman continued to provide Biosecurity Services to Nelson City Council as part of an annual contract for services. While Covid-19 caused some disruption, service was maintained where reasonable, with staff able to respond as essential service personnel.
MAJOR ACTIVITIES (CONT.)
ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
FUNDING IMPACT STATEMENT
For the year ended 30 June 2020BUDGET 2018/2019
$000
ACTUAL 2018/2019
$000 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
ACTUAL 2019/2020
$000
BUDGET 2019/2020
$000 % OF BUDGET
SOURCES OF OPERATING FUNDING
8,438 8,438 General rates, uniform annual general charges, rates penalties 9,080 9,080 100%
177 184 Targeted rates 167 164 102%
20 10 Subsidies and grants for operating purposes 217 21 1033%
2,708 2,787 Fees and charges 2,779 2,607 107%
– – Internal charges and overheads recovered – – –
418 533 Local authorities fuel tax, fines, infringement fees, and other receipts 641 462 139%
11,761 11,952 Total operating funding 12,884 12,334 104%
APPLICATIONS OF OPERATING FUNDING
6,985 6,258 Payments to staff and suppliers 7,558 7,276 104%
34 34 Finance costs 23 24 96%
4,282 4,821 Internal charges and overheads applied 4,907 4,611 106%
– – Other operating funding applications – – –
11,301 11,113 Total applications of operating funding 12,488 11,911 105%
460 839 Surplus/(deficit) of operating funding 396 423 94%
SOURCES OF CAPITAL FUNDING
– – Subsidies and grants for capital expenditure – – –
– – Development and financial contributions – – –
(84) (84) Increase/(decrease) in debt (84) (84) 100%
– – Gross proceeds from sale of assets – – –
– – Lump sum contributions – – –
– – Other dedicated capital funding – – –
(84) (84) Total sources of capital funding (84) (84) 100%
APPLICATIONS OF CAPITAL FUNDING Capital expenditure
– – • to meet additional demand – – –
200 41 • to improve the level of service 132 212 62%
137 148 • to replace existing assets 120 133 90%
39 566 Increase/(decrease) in reserves 60 (6) –1000%
– – Increase/(decrease) in investments – – –
376 755 Total applications of capital funding 312 339 92%
(460) (839) Surplus/(deficit) of capital funding (396) (423) 94%