Saturday, March 30, 2024

Existing rights may impact resource consent deadline

Neal Wallace
The Government is backing down on another of its freshwater reforms, with mounting legal advice that a significant number of farmers will have until November next year to get resource consent for intensive winter grazing.
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The Government’s freshwater reforms initially required farmers to get resource consent for winter grazing by May 1 next year but legal advice sought by Environment Southland has determined many will have existing use rights.

This means they will be required to get consent within six months from 1 May for the 2022 winter.

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor told Farmers Weekly initial advice from Crown Law supports that finding.

Environment Southland’s policy and planning manager Tracey Hicks says in the interim farmers will still have to adhere to conditions in the council’s regional plan where intensive winter grazing is a permitted activity.

“Our legal advice is that because the requirement comes into effect on May 1 next year, it means farmers have until that point consent for intensive winter grazing,” she said.

However, those rights will only apply provided farmers do not change what they have done previously, such as increasing the area under crop.

“There is an element of existing use right but you should not automatically come to such an assumption. I suggest farmers talk to the regional council,” Hicks said.

O’Connor says changes such as this, and the decision last week to ease pugging restrictions in gateways and around permanent water troughs, reflected the desire to have sensible implementation of the new rules.

“I would not say wording in the regulations is faultless,” he said.

“We were always going to rely on and work with regional councils to have sensible implementation.”

O’Connor confirmed he and Environment Minister David Parker are travelling to Southland on Monday to meet with councils and primary sector organisations to discuss the water reforms.

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