ORC communication on water plan draws ire
DELAYS in notifying a minimum flow plan change in three Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes catchments have been well received by water users in the area, but the way the news has been communicated has not.
The Otago Regional Council (ORC) has again come under fire over the issue, as water users say the decision to issue a media release about the changed timeframe rather than contact user groups directly shows a lack of respect.
The ORC yesterday issued a press release called ‘‘Cardrona Meeting and Notification Timeframe Change’’, in which it said notification of ‘‘the minimum flows plan change’’ had been put back from August 31 to May 2019.
Cardrona Water User Group chairman Mike Scurr did not know of the changed timeframe until contacted by the Otago Daily Times yesterday, and said his group — which represented every consented water user in the Cardrona catchment — had not been told of the news.
Mr Scurr said the amount of detail in the threesentence press release was ‘‘appalling’’, and the fact the ORC had not contacted the group directly was ‘‘in keeping with the communication we’ve had with the ORC in the last 12 months’’.
‘‘A little bit of respect for key stakeholders would have been nice.’’
But when contacted by the Otago Daily Times, the ORC said the press release in fact applied to the three catchments recently rolled into the same proposed plan change, Cardrona, Arrow and the Manuherikia.
Notification of that plan change would be made by May 2019, ORC director policy, planning and resource management Tanya Winter said.
She said she was ‘‘sorry for the confusion’’.
When asked why the ORC had contacted media rather than going to water users directly, she said ‘‘we have very broad community interests across three catchments, and we wanted to get the message out about the change of date ASAP. The most expedient way of doing it is via a media release’’.
Manuherikia farmer and former ORC councillor Gary Kelliher said he was ‘‘absolutely staggered’’ by the lack of communication with water users over the changed timeframe, and described the ORC’s handling of the decision to roll three plan changes into one as ‘‘a total train wreck’’.
However, Mr Kelliher and Mr Scurr both said delaying notification of the plan change was good, as the ORC previous timeframe was ‘‘rushed’’.
The ORC statement said before notification of the plan change, all technical reports would be completed and made available to the public on the YourSay website.
A community information session about the proposed minimum flows in the Upper Cardrona catchment is being hosted by the ORC, in conjunction with the Cardrona Water Users Group, on August 8, from 3pm4.30pm.