June 2010
Released 16 Jun 2010
South Island Policy Update
South Island Policy Update (SIPUP) is a regular email designed to let you know what the South Island Federated Farmers Regional policy team has been doing for you. Hopefully this will encourage some kitchen, yard or pub talk about the challenges to your businesses and the importance of supporting a strong advocacy voice. The work carried out by your regional policy team is core business for Federated Farmers. Here is a summary of some of the key issues we've been working on for you over the past couple of months.
COUNCIL ANNUAL PLANS
Every year Federated Farmers takes the opportunity to submit to councils on their draft annual plans. Annual plans are a good opportunity to run the rule over council spending and provide councillors with a wider range of options for rating. Make sure you watch out for the next edition of SIPUP for a summary of the gains that we have made out of our huge effort that goes into these each year. Here's a summary of what we submitted to some of your councils.
Environment Canterbury Annual Plan - A major issue in the Environment Canterbury (Ecan) Annual Plan was the proposal to introduce water management charges based on consented volume, to partially fund state of environment monitoring and resource investigations. We opposed the charge because farmers with irrigation already pay more rates because of the greater capital value of their farms. If there are to be water charges, then we think local committees need to oversee budgets and work programmes. We asked for the charges to be delayed until a robust system for managing the revenue from the charges is in place. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Environment Southland - Federated Farmers and Southland Water users have lobbied hard against Environment Southland's (ES) proposal to implement charges on water allocation in Southland through the Annual Plan process. As a result, ES halved the proposed research and monitoring charge and agreed to undertake consultation with water users to improve the structure and level of the charges in the year ahead to address the concerns raised by submitters during the Annual Plan process. While the ideal outcome was a deferral of the charges until concerns with the proposal had been ironed out, the result shows effect of strong lobbying. The result saves an average of $ 3,350 for each groundwater consent and around $3,500 on average for each surface water consent, based on the maximum daily consented volume. We also made comments on biodiversity expenditure (which is currently funded from a land value based biosecurity rate) as well as supporting AHB funding and concerns from members in Te Anau over the method used to rate river maintenance. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Otago Regional Council - Our submission covered some broad topics, including funding for the Animal Health Board's TbFree programme and congratulating Council for keeping the general rate steady for this year. The big topic though was the method of rating for the Taieri Drainage and Flood Protection schemes. The recent flooding has demonstrated the importance of the scheme to the ratepayers in the area but many of those who benefit are not paying much for the scheme with the farmer's picking up the tab. We asked Council for a reclassification of the rating scheme and for more work to be put into cost benefit analysis of capital expenditure as well as consultation with the community. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
West Coast Regional Council - The level of compliance monitoring costs being aimed at West Coasters is the focus of Federated Farmer's submission. We opposed a decision to increase the amount charged to dairy farmers for compliance monitoring of dairy shed effluent systems that do not require resource consents. This increase was set at 100 percent and Council has the view of increasing it further in the future, leaving farmers feeling a little frustrated. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Queenstown Lakes District Council - We submitted to Council with a number of options to reduce another 10 percent rate rises for farmers in the district (with some examples greater than this). On a positive note, Council indicated that they may be willing to split the general rate into its individual components to enable greater use of targeted rates. This could only spell good news for farmers as it takes the focus off capital value. For more information, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Waimakariri District Council rates - Despite a strong submission from Federated Farmers Council, has failed to increase the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC). After Council was split by a 5 all vote during the Annual Plan process, the status quo applies meaning there will be no change to the UAGC. Federated Farmers strongly advocates for councils to make better use of the UAGC because it removes some of the property value basis for rating and takes some of the burden off the farmer. Council did resolve to tell the incoming Councillors that a complete review of the rating system should be undertaken in light of our submission, and we'll be stating the case for rural ratepayers by making sure the new council commit to a review. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Invercargill City Council - Last year, Invercargill city farmers saw their rates double in most cases and more than double in others. So, Federated Farmers submitted to Council in strong support of the proposal to reduce the rates paid by farming ratepayers through a change to the differential. We're waiting on confirmation that Council's proposal has been adopted, a positive result for Invercargill farmers that will be officially announced on 29 June. This issue alone has seen a huge amount of work from policy staff and elected members, potentially saving farmers in the area thousands of dollars in rates each and every year. The other big issue was ensuring rural ratepayers were excluded from the proposed new wheelie bin service, especially the green waste bin which would otherwise see farmers paying for a service that they don't need. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Hurunui District Council - Federated Farmers commended Council for it its early adoption of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy and its proactive support for water infrastructure development. Council was also commended for its restraint on expenditure while focusing on core activities and for achieving a rate increase less than that projected in the Hurunui Long Term Community Plan. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Selwyn District Council - Federated Farmers submitted to Selwyn District Council's Annual Plan seeking that the UAGC be increased to $175 and that the funding of $5 million over the next 20 years for a swimming pool at Rolleston be paid for by those most likely to utilise the pool, through targeted rates. As an example, we highlighted that those at Castle Hill are unlikely to travel to Rolleston to use the pool and asked why they should be expected to pay. We also supported an incentives based approach to the formal protection of indigenous biodiversity through an improved rates remission scheme. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Clutha District Council - Clutha District Council has signalled that farmers in the district would be making a small contribution to the development of a new recreation centre in Balclutha. They have indicated that their preferred funding model puts most of the focus on Balclutha residents and even more encouraging they have adopted a tiered targeted rate depending on proximity to Balclutha. Federated Farmers promoted this approach in last year's submission. For more information, contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Waitaki District Council - Our submission was focussed heavily on funding policy reform, including submissions on the Uniform Annual General Charge and tourism funding and making the funding for activities like Parks and Reserves more equitable. To their credit, Council has acknowledged inequities in how activities are funded and have been willing to listen to our suggestions. We have met with Council staff to discuss how the proposals we'd outlined could be implemented and have met separately with the Mayor. Council had restricted their rates increase to just 1.8 percent which was relatively low, but the district's revaluations had seen some farmers rates increase by more. We also asked council to adopt a remissions or deferment policy to address these increases. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Christchurch City Council - Christchurch City Council's Annual Plan hearing occurred this month and Council appears to lack knowledge about how their decisions can impact on farming ratepayers. We are concerned that Council's policies focus too heavily on the urban ratepayer and not enough on the rural issues. At the hearing we discussed how the rating system hammers the farmer and how the low use of targeted rates and the lack of increases in the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC) result in greater reliance on the property value based general rate. The general rate puts a real dent in their rural ratepayer's pockets every year. Federated Farmers supports the ongoing rural differential used by Council but we want to see it increased so that rural ratepayers pay a more reasonable amount for city services. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Waimate District Council - Funding reform was at the top of the agenda in our submission and we were happy to hear Council acknowledge there are issues with their current funding policy. Federated Farmers will be extending an offer to work closely with Council in the review and reform of the way the district's rates are collected. We also submitted against the 6.3 percent rates increase and the funding of tourism promotion and visitor information centres from the general rate. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Southland District Council - Southland District Council went through a revaluation last year and while the effects on farmers' rates weren't as marked as they were in neighbouring Invercargill, they were still significant with rates increases in the double figures for most. The easy answer is increasing the use of the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC), but further use of targeted rates, especially for tourism promotion, and a move to the previous, more accurate roading cost allocation model formed the majority of our submission. Council were proposing to take less from the UAGC when they need to take more, especially given the relative changes to rates in the District with farmers paying more of the rating share. We outlined these concerns at the recent hearing and are awaiting Council's decisions. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Kaikoura District Council - The Kaikoura District Council Annual Plan hearing was on 15 June. The main issues were a proposed $1.4 million increase in the funding for developing a new museum and Council looking to put together a working party to review the proposal to ban the use of 1080 in the district. As the authority for the use of 1080 lies with Environment Canterbury, any ban by Council will merely be political, however there are mixed feelings among farmers in Kaikoura. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Gore District Council - Federated Farmers Annual Plan submission has suggested funding policy reform while also focussing heavily on getting more transparency around decisions made by Council, especially when it comes to committing ratepayer money on an ongoing basis, as in the case of the MLT events centre. Roading maintenance was also mentioned. At the hearing Councillors seemed ready to admit there could have been more and better information provided to the public over some core issues. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Tasman District Council - We submitted to Tasman District Council's Draft Annual Plan, seeking that Council continue to rely on targeted rates and introduce a remission scheme to account for increases that occur as a result of large changes in capital value between land use sectors. We were questioned about our views on water storage and about the roading cost allocation model we proposed in our submission. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Dunedin City Council - Our submission to Dunedin City Council's Draft Annual Plan was essentially the same as the submission we made last year, asking why farmers are paying through the nose for per person services or substantially more than the average urban ratepayer for urban based services. While we supported the targeted tourism rate they are proposing and slight changes to the farmland differential, Council has substantial scope to do more, especially given the impact of the stadium on farmer's rates. They also have more scope to use the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC), but during the hearing it wasn't clear that all Councillors are aware of the UAGC let alone that it can be increased to 30 percent of total rates. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Central Otago District Council - Our main submission was for Council to make better use of targeted rates. Although they already used a wide range of targeted rates the effect is not as accurate as we'd like with farmers paying more than the average ratepayer for most Council activities. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
WHILE THE ANNUAL PLAN PROCESS HAS TAKEN A LARGE AMOUNT OF OUR TIME, WE'VE ALSO BEEN BUSY IN OTHER AREAS
Environment Canterbury's biosecurity division - The Environment Canterbury biosecurity division has sought a global consent to use pest control products within the Canterbury region both on private and public lands in accordance with its pest management functions. This would allow the biosecurity division to use pest management products such as 1080 and pindone, without the lengthy, costly and unnecessary resource consent application for every project. Federated Farmers North, Mid and South Canterbury and North Otago provinces will be making a joint submission in support of this resource consent. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Waimakariri River Plan compromises future of irrigation - This plan change sets out a new flow and allocation regime for the Waimakariri River making it very difficult to take water from the river for storage. Federated Farmers submitted strongly on the proposed plan change and met with Environment Canterbury (ECan) to express concern and to advocate for an alternative approach. ECan committed to a more ‘storage-friendly' approach. Hearings scheduled for April were delayed at the request of Federated Farmers and others, to enable full account to be taken of the new ECan legislation. Federated Farmers presented at a hearing in late May, supporting many of the recommendations for change and requesting further amendment which would improve the conditions for infrastructure development without significant adverse environmental impact. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Slow and steady in Gore - Just like progress should be on a good muster, Federated Farmers met with Gore District Councillors and staff and made slow but steady progress on resolving differences on the Gore District's Stock Movement Bylaw. This type of joint working party meeting demonstrates the huge amount of effort that goes in behind the scenes work from Federated Farmers elected members and staff. This kind of grass roots policy and advocacy work can make the difference between a farmer requiring a $100,000 under pass and a $100 sign. For more information, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Environment Southland discharge plan - Environment Southland is looking for feedback from farmers over some of the proposals they are putting forward in their discharge plan review. We're very supportive of Council's robust consultation throughout this process because some of the proposals have the potential to impact heavily on the region's farming compliance costs and restrict your ability to farm. We're asking Council to ensure that any proposals they put forward are based on genuine need, low cost and considerate of farming practice. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
No bull in Buller - Farmers in the Buller district can be pretty pleased with themselves at the moment. Council released its stock droving bylaw, due to come into force on the 1 July 2010. After successful negotiation with landowners the previous draconian format of the bylaw, which would have seen farmers paying $200 for each stock crossing of a road, was scrapped. We are pleased to report that Council has been working closely with farmers to redraft the provisions resulting in a much more efficient and suitable bylaw. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Hurunui water conservation order application - The application for a water conservation order on the Hurunui River had reached the Environment Court stage with Federated Farmers appealing the decision. Under the new Environment Canterbury (Ecan) legislation, the process will largely be under the control of the appointed ECan commissioners. If the applicants choose to continue with their application, Federated Farmers will continue to work closely with Hurunui Water Project and Amuri Irrigation Co Ltd to demonstrate the economic, social and environmental value of irrigation and the development of water infrastructure and storage. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Not a bad day at the office - Otago member and high country farmer, Tim Burdon, hosted a group of members, the Mayor, ward councillors and the CEO and policy staff of Queenstown Lakes District Council this month at a spot on his farm overlooking Lake Wanaka. The meeting had the purpose of running through some sticky issues for farmers in the lakes district and introducing a relatively new CEO to the challenges facing farmers in the district. A diverse range of topics were covered ranging from the impacts of district planning on Tenure Review, the impact of large capital values on rates, sustainability and succession, freedom camping, public access and high country burning. If you want to host a similar day for your council then please contact, Matt Harcombe, by clicking here.
Marlborough District Council - Marlborough District Council's review of their Regional Policy Statement has led Federated Farmers to question every aspect of Council's current rules and policies. The review has looked at policies around water quality, waste, soil quality, air quality, energy, public space and access, biodiversity and regionally significant resources. The review is expected to continue for the next couple of months and Federated Farmers will be present and ensuring rules and policies are necessary and give regard to the likely impact on farming practice. For more information, please contact Anna Mackenzie by clicking here.
Kaikoura environmental flows - Farmers are concerned that the proposed flow regimes put forward in Variation 5 of ECan's Natural Resource Plan will have substantial adverse effects on their ability to take water for irrigation. They are also concerned about attempts by other submitters to increase the proposed minimum flows and about the lack of verification of the science on which the proposed minimum flows were based. Federated Farmers presented at a hearing on 29 April advocating strongly for the protection of existing water use rights. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Water forum critical for Otago farmers - Otago Regional Council held a water quality forum on the 26 and 27 of May in Cromwell. The forum outlined a new approach to managing water quality in the region. The Minister of Agriculture headed an impressive line up of speakers to inform the discussion at the forum. National Board member, David Rose, and South Island regional policy team leader, Matt Harcombe, attended to share their thoughts on water quality. There is another forum being held in Oamaru on Tuesday, 29 June, from 1pm. For more information on what it might mean for you, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Protecting indigenous vegetation in the Queenstown Lakes District - Otago High Country farmers, Richard Burdon and John Aspinal, along with Federated Farmers regional policy staff have met with DOC, Forest and Bird, iwi and Council staff to discuss the protection of indigenous vegetation on private land. Council has a responsibility under the RMA to identify alpine environments and vegetation that may be considered nationally ‘significant' and have been directed by the Environment Court to undertake this process. The key messages on behalf of the district's farmers are that any process should be low cost and sensible, should only be undertaken if necessary and should be undertaken at the same time as the tenure review process if appropriate to ensure costs and disturbance to the farmer are minimised. First and foremost, Council needs to ensure it engages with the landowner, after all much of the significant indigenous vegetation that exists on private land is there because a farmer has made the decision to protect it. For more information, please contact David Cooper by clicking here.
Christchurch groundwater protection zones - A change to the regional plan is designed to protect the unconfined aquifers to the west of Christchurch which comprise the Christchurch groundwater recharge zone. Federated Farmers is supportive of protecting the groundwater recharge zone but submitted against measures which would inhibit routine farming operations. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Bad news for Queenstown Lakes farmers but the fight may not be over - The Environment Court has issued a decision on Plan Change 28 and the news is not good. Effectively Council's plan is upheld which means that trails formed before 2007 and trails formed through the Tenure Review process will remain public places. This means that someone walking on one of these trails can comment on whether or not it is appropriate to build a new woolshed across the other side of the valley. It will also mean the view of the new woolshed from the trail will be a matter for consideration in getting resource consent to put up the shed. The Court has been silent on whether or not it is legal for district plans to discriminate between one type of freehold land versus another (that formed through Tenure Review) which is the critical point of our appeal. For more information, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Dunedin City Council - Dunedin City Council has notified a plan change on managing earthworks within the district and your Federation submitted to this plan change. It rolls a previous earthworks Bylaw into the district plan and makes some changes around earthworks thresholds around waterways, groundwater and in landscape areas. It also clarifies what consents are required from regional council versus district council for earthworks near and in water. We submitted on a discussion document at the end of 2008 and some good changes have been made as a result of that to the plan change, but it still has a long way to go before providing for routine farming activities in the rural zone. For more information, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Compliance with dairy effluent consents - The dairy industry has been dogged with bad publicity about lack of compliance with dairy effluent consents. There is consequent public pressure for regional council to deal with the issue. Federated Farmers is working with DairyNZ, Environment Canterbury and dairy companies to improve compliance with dairy effluent consents. Work streams include education and a code of practice for effluent system suppliers, farm staff training and farmer events, rationalisation of consent conditions, communication of the group's activities and good news stories. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Waipara environmental flows and water allocation - Farmers and growers support many aspects of the Proposed Waipara Catchment Environmental Flow and Water Allocation Regional Plan but are concerned about provisions in the plan which would reduce the reliability of water taken to storage or used for frost protection, and raise minimum flows for these activities. Water users are also concerned about proposals to limit consent duration until the plan becomes fully operational. Federated Farmers has submitted on the proposed plan, opposing provisions which would reduce reliability, discriminate against storage and frost protection, and reduce certainty for investment. The plan should set environmental limits and leave the detailed management to consent holders, ideally using audited self-management approaches. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Clutha District Council - Clutha District Council has spent some time reviewing their rules around the clearance of indigenous vegetation. We have had a couple of meetings to discuss how a rule might look like and have met with other groups like DoC, iwi and Fish and Game. They are now at the stage of a draft rule, with some changes suggested to reduce the area that is permitted to be cleared, provide some clearer distinction between district and regional council roles and to provide for some low scale activities that will require the clearance of some vegetation. For example, track and fence work, building platforms etc. A summary of the key changes will be provided to members for comment in the next month or so. For more information, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) - Federated Farmers, along with irrigation and environmental interest groups are working with the CWMS Steering Group to progress the strategy targets. Targets address water quality, irrigated land area, ecology, water use efficiency, energy security and efficiency and Kaitiakitanga. The purpose was to confirm areas of agreement and to identify and work on points of difference, to ensure that the targets are fair, achievable and cost-effective. Work on the governance structures is proceeding rapidly, with the first zone committees being established in the Hurunui and Waimakariri districts. Applications are currently being sought for the over-arching Regional Committee and for the Selwyn-Waihora and Ashburton Zone Committees. Federated Farmers is working hard to make sure that strong farmer governance skills are represented on the committees. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Fish and Game Southland - Fish and Game Southland has proposed to extend their fishing season which is likely to have a tremendous impact on some farmers whose land many of those anglers have to traverse to get access to their fishing spots. We submitted against the proposal, highlighting farmer concerns. Our key submissions were that September becomes the lambing date for all of lowland Southland, that extending the fishing season will lead to greater conflict between anglers and landowners, formal access sites will create problems between landowners and anglers and that many landowners were unaware of the application to extend the season. For more information, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Seasonal limits on the use of water for irrigation - Canterbury's Regional Plan schedule WQN9 sets seasonal limits on the use of water for irrigation and the methodology which currently underpins the schedule is substantially flawed. Federated Farmers and Irrigation NZ have been working with Environment Canterbury (Ecan) to enable consent applicants to access a more appropriate model (Irricalc) to set their seasonal limits. ECan has now approved the use of Irricalc by consent applicants, who will benefit from more realistic seasonal volumes. Work continues, to get Irricalc incorporated into the regional plan as the default option for determining seasonal allocations. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
Waitaki irrigators under fire again - Federated Farmers pulled out all stops on behalf of irrigation interests in the Waitaki catchment during the passing of the legislation through the house to transfer assets from Meridian to Genesis in the upper catchment. We worked with irrigation interests to lobby the select committee hard to ensure that supply agreements that provide reliability of supply to irrigators are enshrined in legislation. After years of uncertainty in the catchment this is a huge opportunity to lock in the requirement for the hydro companies to meet the full requirements of the irrigation companies. For more information, please contact Matt Harcombe by clicking here.
Cumulative effects of land use on water quality - The primary farming sector is coming under increasing pressure to effectively manage the cumulative effects of land use on water quality. Federated Farmers is working with other primary sector groups, collaboratively with Environment Canterbury, to develop a process for addressing the issue of cumulative effects of land use on water quality. The collaborative process will give a greater probability of achieving cost-effective outcomes for farmers. Environment Canterbury has accepted this process rather than developing a plan variation to deal with cumulative effects. Scoping workshops have been held, including primary sector groups and farmer leaders. Federated Farmers is represented by Michael Morrow, Federated Farmers Mid-Canterbury provincial president, on the multi-party project governance group. For more information, please contact Lionel Hume by clicking here.
But wait, there's more! - No steak knives, but we're handling those meaty off-farm Local and Central Government matters for you so you can focus on core business.
In the past month we have also -
- Continued our involvement with environment court proceedings for wetlands on the West Coast.
- Met with Venture Southland to hear their concerns over Government's rural broadband initiative.
- Ongoing discussions around phosphorus loading in Lake Brunner on the West Coast.
- Discussions with Sustainable Wine Growers New Zealand around the effect of grazing sheep on vineyards in winter.
- Met with Environment Southland and AA policy staff to discuss rural roading issues.
- Made further submissions to Tasman's cultural heritage sites plan change.
- Attended the regional AGMs to talk to the real people doing the real work.
- Followed up on a number of member issues passed on from the hard-working field officers.
- Met with Environment Southland over the need (or otherwise) to undertake a scoping of on-farm offal pits.
- Attended a meeting between Transpower and stakeholders in Oamaru over the Lower Waitaki Reliability project.
