New Natural Resource Plan Committee
Greater Wellington’s new National Resource Plan Committee, which meets for the first time on Wednesday (28 October) is an historic step for the Greater Wellington Regional Council, says Council Chair, Fran Wilde.
“It’s an historic move for two reasons – the inclusion of iwi nominees and the new “bottom up” community approach that the committee will be using to develop the Plan.
“Round the country most councils have some kind of Māori Advisory Committee, but none to my knowledge have yet formalised a planning partnership of this sort round the region’s natural resources”, Ms Wilde said.
“The model may well be utlised in some Treaty of Waitangi settlements in future, but our committee is not being set up under the auspices of any settlement legislation. We are working under the provisions of the Resource Management Act and the Local Government Act. As the organisation with the primary legal responsibility for resource planning in the region, we are recognising the historic and continuing interest of local Māori in land and water.”
Although the Māori members have been nominated by the region’s mana whenua iwi, like the seven elected Councillor members, their role is to ensure that the new plan provides for the region as a whole, and each of them was nominated for the particular skills and expertise that they bring. Ms Wilde said the appointees had a wide range of experience, especially in local government and resource management, with at least three of them already being accredited resource management hearing commissioners.
Ms Wilde said that the approach the Council was taking to developing the new generation plans was also innovative.
“We are looking at a combination of regulatory and non-regulatory instruments, with a great deal of emphasis on the latter. This as an opportunity to encourage new thinking and to make it easy for those with an interest in land and water to work with us, rather than seeing the Council as the regulatory policeman. For us, the best outcome would be a robust regulatory framework that integrates with the environmental programmes, work and incentives we currently deliver, as well as with industry-led codes of practice and standards.
“Over the next few months, we will be developing a comprehensive engagement and consultation plan. The active participation of industry groups, farmers, non-government organisations, city and district councils, community groups, iwi, government agencies and others will be essential to provide for long lasting outcomes that benefit the natural environment, while recognising the need to sustain our regional economy” Ms Wilde said.
“Indeed the committee will be undertaking a great deal of exploratory work, holding conversations with different groups round the region. Much of the development of the plan will necessarily be done by way of workshops to allow for this community engagement and we expect that the Plan will emerge through consensus.
“The success of this approach will be entirely dependent on the active participation of the community. We hope this will be the case and that this region can develop a genuine leadership model for the integrated management of natural resources.”
Contact: Fran Wilde 021-888075