Concerns about the plan change remain despite it being substantially rewritten by a hearings panel, B+LNZ environment strategy manager Corina Jordan told an online workshop.
The council accepted the panel’s recommendations in March. The plan aims to improve the water quality of the Waikato and Waipa rivers.
Jordan said there is concern about the requirements on land use on hill country.
If a farm carries cattle heavier than 400kg from June-September on forage crops it is no longer a permitted activity but classed as a controlled activity requiring resource consent.
“Our aim is that the majority of the sheep and beef sector should be a permitted activity,” Jordan said.
“What we need to do is look at those standards to make sure that is the case and what we are hearing from farmers is that some of those standards identified cause problems, we should appeal them to the Environment Court and ask for some changes.
“At this stage the way that some of it is written, a lot of our hill country farmers would have to apply for a controlled activity consent because they would not be able to meet those permitted activity standards.”
Also causing concern is ambiguity around the fencing of waterways on hill country land. If farmers run more than 18 stock units in paddocks adjoining a water body on land over 15 degrees they will need to fence that water.
“There is concern that the stock exclusion requirements for hill country are written in such a way that it’s really uncertain how they are going to be applied.
“The way they are written could require fencing in hill country.”
Her interpretation of the rule is that the stock unit limits apply only to that specific paddock, not across a whole farm. However, it risks being interpreted in different ways.
There are also concerns around fertiliser restrictions and farming restrictions in the Whangamarino catchment.
While there are concerns there were also positives. The much-maligned grandparenting approach in the original document has been changed to a more risk-based approach where farms are categorised as low, medium or high risk according to their location and nitrogen leaching rate.
“That was a huge outcome,” she said.
“There was an acknowledgement that some farms have a really low environmental footprint and they don’t need that really draconian regulatory framework to be popped around them.”
The revised plan also aligns reasonably closely with the just released Essential Freshwater package, she said.
Submitters have till July 8 or August 18 to appeal if they are an industry group or an individual respectively.
Farmers could also join an appeal.
B+LNZ will hold more workshops with farmers to discuss some of the issues.
