Staff pull a late one for plan
Council staff put in a 19-hour shift, finishing at 3am yesterday, to get the region’s management ‘‘masterplan’’ finalised in time for its big release later that day.
After years in the making, the Marlborough Environment Plan was released at noon today following a po¯ whiri at Blenheim’s Omaka Marae.
The plan brings three of the region’s major management plans into a single document and defines what activities are appropriate in Marlborough’s urban, rural and coastal environments.
Council environment policy manager Pere Hawes said council staff worked late to format the final document, and did not go home for a rest.
‘‘It’s part of the job. I’ve been working so hard that I haven’t had time to pause and reflect on its release.
‘‘But there’s a sense of accomplishment.’’
He said the plan’s release was a ‘‘New Zealand first’’ as no other council had successfully combined their plans, despite an attempt from Auckland.
The new plan fused together the Marlborough Regional Policy Statement, the Marlborough Sounds Resource Management Plan and the Wairau-awatere Resource Management Plan. It was expected the new plan would save ratepayers money, as the council would only have to review one plan, instead of three, every few years.
Marlborough Mayor John Leggett said Marlborough was the ‘‘first one to survive’’ the fusion as its residents saw benefits for the environment.
‘‘We realised the resources here are precious and finite,’’ he said.
More than 1300 submissions were made on the plan, covering more than 17,500 separate points, a council database showed. Hearings for the plan started in November 2017 at the Omaka Marae and finished in April last year.
Leggett said it was ‘‘fitting’’
to hold its release where it started.
Councillor David Oddie, who sat on the plan’s panel, said the council had originally estimated hearings and deliberations would take two months.
‘‘Now, it’s two years later. It’s sucked up my thinking over the years. It’s made being a councillor hard to do. I always had a pile of reading to do.’’
Independent commissioner Ron Crosby said he now ‘‘had [his] life back’’. ‘‘It’s been absolutely all-absorbing in terms of personal time,’’ he said.
Council chief executive Mark Wheeler said while work was over for the panel, the council would have to address any appeals that might be made on the plan, which could be lodged before April 3.
Appeals could take ‘‘years’’ to be resolved, and were dealt with through the Environment Court, or through agreements outside of court, he said.
Changes would also be made to the plan once new Central Government polices were finalised, which would have to go out for public consultation.
Figures obtained by a local democracy reporter from last September showed the PMEP had cost ratepayers about $2.77 million. The $70,000 overspend was 2.5 per cent of the original budget, $2.7m.
Raymond Smith, of Nga¯ti Kuia, said the plan would become a ‘‘leading document’’ which incorporated ‘‘all [Marlborough’s] special things’’.
‘‘It’s an extremely complex biodiversity with extremely complex issues.’’
Independent commissioner Rawiri Faulker said he thought iwi and the wider community would be encouraged by the plan’s contents.