The decision was made by Waikato Regional Council in response to legal proceedings being taken by Hauraki iwi.
Iwi were aggrieved they were not included in the stakeholder group tasked with carrying out the Healthy Rivers mandate ensuring the Waikato and Waipa rivers were swimmable and fishable along their length within 80 years.
While not falling directly in the catchment of the rivers, Hauraki iwi claimed rohe (ancestral land) fell within the plan’s catchment.
The area now excluded was the part of the Waikato River most vulnerable to high nutrient levels covering the lower region north of Mercer to its Port Waikato mouth.
The area comprises 120,000ha of largely intensively farmed land stretching from Morrinsville in the east across highly polluted Lake Waikare and to Tuakau and the river’s northern regional boundary.
Now Federated Farmers, Beef + Lamb New Zealand and Horticulture NZ would not rule out the possibility of filing for an injunction to put the entire plan on hold until the issue had been resolved with iwi.
B+LNZ North Island environmental manager Corina Jordan said the group’s policymakers would be in discussion in coming days over what move to make.
“It is still too early to say if we will be seeking an injunction on the plan.
“But we understand the WRC has decided to draw that part of the catchment out but continue the process with the rest of the catchment.”
The uniform approach the plan was taking had been undermined by removing the lower area, destabilising it and ensuring it was no longer an integrated catchment plan.
A common view among industry policymakers was the council had to withdraw the plan in its entirety until the issue was resolved.
That would be the most likely goal of a primary sector injunction.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Mike Chapman said his staff were in close discussion with other primary sector groups to determine if legal action was the best path.
“But we would be pretty keen to join with other groups if this goes ahead.”
He suspected a type of judicial review might be an option.
“It is really important we get this plan right.
“It does not make sense to divide the plan into two.
“What we would be asking council to do is to withdraw the plan and sort out things with iwi.
“We have 80 years to get this done, so let’s do it right.”
Horticulture NZ and Federated Farmers had prepared extensive submissions on the plan and both included a focus on members in north Waikato.
Federated Farmers has already released costing impacts on farms with varying contour and stock classes affected by the plan’s conditions.
Meantime, vegetable growers in the region risked finding their businesses strung out over a newly formed boundary.
Brent Wilcox, chairman of
Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association chairman Brent Wilcox said it made no sense for him to have a business trying to operate on different rules depending where the land was in the region.
Waikato Federated Farmers president Chris Lewis said the whole plan needed to be put on hold for six months until the council had sorted the issues with iwi.
