The committee coming up with one combined district plan for the West Coast is "being watched" on how it provides for significant natural areas (SNAs) in the proposed Te Tai o Poutini combined district plan, and if it does not act it will be challenged through the courts.
Dairy farming near the Taramakau and Taipo rivers in Westland. Photo: Supplied
Te Tai o Poutini Plan Committee (TTPP) is a joint committee made up of the four West Coast councils and local iwi.
Te Tai o Poutini Committee iwi representative Paul Madgwick told the committee meeting last week the latest SNA report brought back "the whole nightmare" of the previous West Coast schedule two wetlands review process, which saw local iwi forced to take legal action to remove Maori reserve land from being compulsorily taken.
However, there was also "no escaping" the SNA requirement for the plan, and the committee needed to "be brave" and take control of it or risk the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Forest and Bird taking court action.
The TTPP committee last year agreed to leave out Westland and Buller from the SNA requirement, but include Grey district because the council had previously identified its SNAs on private land.
"We are being watched and I think we'd be fools if we thought we can scrape through by postponing the pain, even for five years. I think we should be starting it now and we just have to bite the bullet," Madgwick said.
TTPP principal planner Lois Easton warned in a report that there was a "high likelihood" that the committee would be forced to revisit its decision to leave SNAs out of the plan. The committee responded by seeking a further report and to revisit the issue in a fortnight.
During the meeting, Mr Madgwick maintained that Maori land should remain outside the SNA process, as those lands have never been ceded to the Crown. The TTPP committee agreed last year to exclude Maori land from any SNA process.
Dairy grazing on the edge of DOC administered reserve land in the Big Waininihi River Valley in Westland. Photo: Supplied
West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield said however there should be "one rule for all" if there were to be SNAs.
"I think it's a bit rough that the Maoris get their land excluded and everyone else is in," Councillor Birchfield said during a debate lasting nearly 50 minutes.
Easton said it was now "too late" to formally identify and include SNAs for Buller and Westland in time for the release of the draft plan in July.
Easton said a five-year timeframe to identify SNAs could help but was risky.
"There is considerable risk in that we're not compliant with the Regional Policy Statement. So it will be challenged and I expect it may well lead to a court hearing in the future," she said.
More detailed work for Buller and Westland SNAs had previously been costed at up to $300,000.
Madgwick said he was "still scarred" by the schedule two wetlands debacle.
"We had to take legal action in order to extract some of the wetlands that were forcibly taken from us of Maori reserve land," he said.
The schedule two wetlands process had been "fraught and very, very costly" for ratepayers, costing about $1 million.
DOC and Forest and Bird had appealed the process after 40 wetlands were initially included, and then the region "lost control of it".
"All of a sudden it was out of our hands and the list was pumped up to 140-odd."
He agreed that SNAs were "an abomination" but the committee had to be realistic.
Councillor Birchfield said there was currently "plenty of representation" of native vegetation in the National Parks in the region for its biodiversity.
"With the SNAs on the Coast we've only got 15 percent of the land area. The private landowners should be left alone to pay the rates on the private land and use it as they wish," he said.
Along with SNAs, under the plan other private land was going to be restricted, including fault avoidance zones and 'outstanding landscapes'.
"There's very little of the land that's not going to be affected by this nonsense."
Te Runanga o Makaawhio chairman Paul Madgwick is also the editor of the Greymouth Star. He took no part in the commissioning, writing or editing of this LDR story.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
