Water, land appeals could be costly

Environment Southland could be dragged into costly Environment Court battles if mediation is unable to resolve appeals against the proposed Southland Water and Land Plan.

There have been 25 appeals lodged against the proposed plan, covering more than 100 rules and provisions.

The proposed Southland Water and Land Plan seeks to address activities that are known to have a significant effect on water quality, such as land use intensification, urban discharges, wintering and stock access to waterways.

Federated Farmers, Ngai Tahu, Southland Fish & Game, the Department of Conservation, and Southland, Gore and Invercargill councils are among some of the groups who have lodged appeals.

A report given to councillors in the Strategy and Policy Committee meeting on Wednesday says appeals by Ngai Tahu, Federated Farmers, Alliance, Forest & Bird and Southland Fish & Game identify several appeal points that , which could have a flow on effect for other provisions if changes were made.

Key themes of the appeals were disagreement over some of the wording, appeals seeking the easing of some rules and a combined appeal from the Southland councils over rules regarding stormwater and community sewerages schemes.

Some appeals had also sought to make rules tougher or include provisions that had been deleted during the drafting process.

If mediation was not successful, or not all parties agreed to mediation, then the appeals would be heard in the Environment Court.

Environment Southland policy, planning and regulatory services director Vin Smith said because of the nature of the process, which may be lengthy, the council could not budget for the appeals. ‘‘The cost therefore will come from existing funds.’’

While the appeal period closed on May 17, section 274 of the Resource Management Act provides an opportunity for those who may be affected by an appeal to be involved in the mediation process, Smith said.

Those applications close on June 22 and so far six parties had joined appeals.

The Environment Court would appoint an environment commissioner to facilitate any mediation, Smith said.

There was the possibility that if appellants dropped the appeals they had made, the section 274 parties could carry on the appeals in their wake. If that were to happen, the council would seek legal advice, Smith said.

Speaking at the committee meeting, chairman Nicol Horrell said reaching resolutions sooner would benefit all parties.

The council was committed to working with all those involved to reach agreement so it could then move on to implementing the plan, Horrell said.

Southland Fish & Game manager Zane Moss said it was unfortunate but he believed it was likely that some of the appeals would end up in court.