Mandate Consultation
Consultation with Landowners
Generally there is inadequate property-specific consultation before and during the planning process, particularly in relation to the protection of section 6 values. Inspection of areas to be protected in Part II matters in general are often requested or undertaken without providing the landowner with the full implications of the studies.
Generally the studies undertaken to protect values determined in section 6 fail to recognise individual property boundaries and take no account of the impact on long-term farm sustainability objectives. Notified plans and schedules fail to provide landowners with enough detail in order for them to make informed submissions contradicting a specific and well-accepted principle of consultation.
Landowners are often unaware of protected sites or landscapes when purchasing properties or undertaking routine farming activities post-plan notification. Information on protected sites is generally not provided to potential purchasers of a property on title or land information search. This situation is aggravated by proposed plans, or plans under appeal, where landscape or vegetation protection is proposed but not identified on a LIM or other information about the property.
Rethink and Redefine Pre-Plan Consultation
Meaningful consultation has been well defined in case law and is well publicised for the use of planners. The 2005 amendments to the Act should require councils to consult more effectively with affected landowners prior to plan notification in line with consultation requirements in the Local Government Act. Some councils already do this very well but despite these amendments there is little evidence of the consultation problem being addressed.
Federated Farmers has suggested to Local Government New Zealand the possibility of establishing a formal memorandum of understanding with councils to provide for mandatory consultation with landowners on section 6 and other relevant matters. Many of these relationships exist informally between groups of landowners and councils, but may not necessarily guarantee effective landowner consultation.
There is scope for the inclusion of a legislated consultation requirement in the RMA that would ensure landowners effective participation and would counter many of the initial problems with ill-defined section 6 protection.
