Oxford Bird Rescue to close after 10 years open, and thousands of birds saved
From reporter Amber Allott:
After nearly a decade rescuing hawks hit by cars and nursing injured owls back to health, one of Canterbury’s best-loved wildlife rescues will be closing its doors.
North Canterbury’s Oxford Bird Rescue Trust, run by husband-and-wife team Scott and Tracey Bowman, specialises in rescuing and rehabilitating raptors – or birds of prey.
The rescue announced on social media last week that Scott's health had taken a turn for the worse, and he had been diagnosed with motor neuron disease.
“Unfortunately there is no cure, it is aggressively debilitating and terminal and his prognosis isn't great, not giving him a lot of time left.
“We have spent the last few weeks looking at the road ahead and given his condition and rate of decline we simply can't offer the care required to continue rehabbing raptors.”
The rescue would finish rehabilitating the last few birds in its care, Bowman said, before closing for good.
For locals who found injured owls and hawks going forward, Bowman said they might face a bit more of a drive.
The South Island Wildlife Hospital, based at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch, would be taking on most of the raptor care, he said.
“They’re best set up, especially for the harriers.”
The pair planned to donate a lot of their equipment to other bird rescues, hopefully including the new Kaikōura Wildlife Hospital, Bowman said.
Their unique, custom-built hawk enclosure – which allowed full in-house rehabilitation – would go to the South Island Wildlife Hospital.
“There’s still going to be people doing it, it just won’t be us.”
Waimakariri district plan faces more delays amid changing rules
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Changing Government legislation is causing headaches for council staff, as Waimakariri’s new District Plan is set to be delayed again.
Waimakariri District Council development planning manager Matt Bacon said he was relieved when the last of the public hearings ended last week.
But with final council reports due on December 13, staff will have just two working days to present the final District Plan on December 17. A district plan helps to control and manage the development of the district or city.
‘‘We are working through what it looks like and we will update the council at its meeting on December 3,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘But we will likely seek another extension from the environment minister and the Resource Management Act (RMA) minister.’’
The council first notified its draft District Plan in September 2021, but within months legislation was introduced with new medium density residential housing standards (MDRS).
‘‘We needed to call for further submissions and we had to create a separate hearing panel to consider the plan variations to allow for the MDRS,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘We have tried to merge the process as much as possible, as well as looking at re-zoning and incorporating other new legislation.’’
When the draft plan was first notified there was no National Policy Statement (NPS) for Indigenous Biodiversity, but an NPS was introduced - and then replaced.
The Natural and Built Environment Act came into being last year and then repealed, and then there is the NPS on Urban Development and the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
The Government is now working on more RMA reforms and Environment Canterbury is working on the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement.
And then there is the Fast-Track Approvals Bill, which includes three proposed housing developments in Waimakariri - two of them outside of the future urban development areas identified in the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
All three housing developments in the Bill have been included in submissions to the District Plan, including a proposed 850-home development at Ohoka, near Rangiora, which is also subject to an Environment Court appeal.
‘‘We haven’t seen the detail, so whether it is the same proposals, we don’t know, but they are different processes so we have to just keep doing what we are doing, until we are told otherwise,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘It might just be a timing thing, but we just don’t know.’’
Bacon said delaying the District Plan until new legislation is in place is not an option.
‘‘We are looking at what we can control and having a watching brief, and we will look at transitional timings because we don’t always have to immediately change planning documents when new legislation comes in.’’
Planning manager Wendy Harris said navigating changing Government legislation is a normal part of council planning work.
‘‘If we waited we wouldn’t do anything and we would go nowhere.’’
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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The tiger who came to tea
Trays are such a useful item to have in the home – they are obviously great for serving food and drinks, particularly breakfast in bed! Find out how to create your own with Resene wallpaper and Resene Colorwood wood stain with these easy step by step instructions.
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