District Plan - Plan Change 3 - Significant Natural Areas

Rotorua Lakes Council re-notifies its decisions on the provisions and matters raised in submissions for Plan Change 3: Significant Natural Areas.

Council has accepted the commissioners’ recommendations on the plan change and the submissions, as set out in the commissioners’ report.

Copies of this decision are also available from:

• Council Offices - 1061 Haupapa Street, Rotorua
• Rotorua Library - 1127 Haupapa Street, Rotorua

From 20 March 2021, the provisions of the plan change are amended in accordance with this decision.

Appeals

Submitters may appeal the plan change to the Environment Court. Refer to the First Schedule of the Resource Management Act 1991 for further information.

Appeals must be lodged with the Environment Court within 30 working days of service of a copy of the public notice of the decision and appeals must be on the prescribed form.

This notice is given pursuant to clauses 10 and 11, Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act 1991.

For more information on the Plan Change or the associated process please feel free to contact Council at Policy.Planning@rotorualc.nz.

The Council decided to adopt the recommendations and report of the commissioners as their decision on the plan change. A copy of the commissioner's recommendations report can be read here.

Formal notification of this decision will be made in the New Year.

• BOPRC Statement of Position for Significant Natural Area's Hearing on 17 February 2020 Nassah Steed
• Ecological Evidence - Paul Cashmore, Department of Conservation
• Ecological Evidence - Brian Taylor Smith, Mercury NZ Limited
• Legal Submissions - Michelle Hooper, Counsel for Department of Conservation
• Planning Evidence - Fraser Graafhuis, Mercury NZ Limited
• Planning Evidence - Luis Alejandro Cifuentes, Waikato Regional Council
• Statement of Evidence - Bridget Robson, CNI Iwi Holdings Limited and Timberlands Limited
• Statement of Position Nassah Steed, Bay of Plenty Regional Council
• Planning Evidence - Thomas Christie, Department of Conservation
• Hearing Handouts - R W Martin, Northdale Holdings Limited
• Hearing Presentation - Warwick Moyle and Phill Loest
• Statement of Position - Clive Tozer
• Statement of Position - Federated Farmers

The following evidence has been submitted to the Council prior to the hearing:

• Mercury's Planning Evidence
• Mercury's Ecological Evidence
• Director General of Conservation's Planning Evidence
• Director General of Conservation's Ecological Evidence
• Waikato Regional Council's Ecological Evidence (2014 Geothermal Vegetation Report for Waikato Region by Wildlands)
• Waikato Regional Council's Ecological Evidence

The commissioners' direction to extend timeframes to allow late expert evidence from Waikato Regional Council is available here. If submitters wish to make comments regarding this late staement of evidence the hearing panel is open to receiving written submissions on this matter before the opening of the hearing on Monday 17 February at 10am.

Submissions and further submissions on Plan Change 3 - Significant Natural Areas have been loaded onto our website via the relevant links below.

These are presented here in two forms:

1. In full, initial submissions compiled into one document here with a contents page to locate submissions by submitter name (some personal details have been deleted).
2. In full, further submissions as above here
3. In summary form, as a downloadable Excel spreadsheet and PDF file (more details on this below)

The Excel spreadsheet allows you to filter the summary of submissions by particular topics.

We recommend you read at least the submission points relating to your SNA, as well as the topics relating to SNAs generally or groups of sites.

Tips for using the spreadsheet:

1. Open the spreadsheet
2. Click 'enable editing'
3. You can filter by 'topic' (circled in red below) which views ALL topics
4. You can select or deselect by any topic that you are interested in (circled in orange below)
5. The green line highlights some general sub groups of SNA feedback (mainly feedback from organisations/advocacy groups)
6. The blue line highlights feedback specific to an SNA number

Submissions are made under the Resource Management Act 1991(External link). The submissions and the information contained in them will be held by the Rotorua Lakes Council and will also be available at Rotorua Lakes Council's Customer Centre, the Rotorua library and on the Rotorua Lakes Council website.

By taking part in this public submission process submitters will, for the purposes of the Official Information Act 1982(External link), be understood to have waived privacy interests in their submission.

Submitters are also reminded that the information supplied in written submissions may be personal information within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1993(External link). Submitters are advised that under the Privacy Act that they have the right to enquire as to the personal information held by the Council and request that it be accurate.

The process for public participation in the consideration of the proposal under the Act is as follows:

• after the closing date for submission, Rotorua Lakes Council must prepare a summary of decisions requested by submitters and give public notice of the where this information can be inspected; and
• there must be an opportunity for the following persons to make a further submission in support of, or in opposition to, the submissions already made: 1) any person representing a relevant aspect of the public interest; 2) any person who has an interest in the proposal greater than the general public has; 3) the local authority itself; and
• if a person making a submission asks to be heard in support of his or her submission, a hearing must be held; and
• Rotorua Lakes Council must give its decision on the provisions and matters raised in the submissions (including its reasons for accepting or rejecting submissions) and give public notice of its decision within two years of notifying the proposal and serve it on every person who made a submission at the same time; and
• any person who has made a submission has the right to appeal against the decision on the proposal to the Environment Court if, in relation to a provision or matter that is the subject of the appeal, the person referred to the provision or matter in the person's submission on the proposal; and in the case of a proposal that is a proposed policy statement or plan, the appeal does not seek the withdrawal of the proposal as a whole.