Ban proposal upsets Fish & Game
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Fish and Game is unimpressed with a proposal to ban hunting dogs from the Ashley Rakahuri River estuary during duck shooting season.
The Waimakariri District Council is consulting on a new Northern Pegasus Bay Bylaw, which includes banning all dogs on the spit and the Ashley Rakahuri River and Saltwater Creek estuary.
The bylaw governs what activities are allowed on the district’s beaches.
The new rules will remove an exemption which has allowed holders of Fish and Game hunting licenses to take their dogs into the estuary area during gamebird hunting season.
The measures are designed to protect ecological values and bird habitats around the estuary and wetlands.
But Fish and Game North Canterbury game bird specialist Matt Garrick was not impressed with the proposed ban.
He said he corresponded with the council a year ago, but had not had any further contact.
‘‘I explained that duck season does not overlap during critical, sensitive periods, such as nesting, so there would be no conflict with dogs used for game bird hunting.’’
He said he requested data to demonstrate game bird hunting and dogs in the winter was having an effect on the estuary's bird life, but had heard nothing further.
The estuary is home to threatened bird species including wrybills, black-bill gulls, banded dotterels, black-fronted terns and pied oystercatchers, some of which are also endangered.
A council spokesperson said staff reached out to Fish and Game North Canterbury in January and May last year to inform the organisation it was conducting a review of the bylaw.
‘‘Based on feedback we received from the public consultation on the bylaw, which ran for three months over summer of 2023-24, we are now proposing to exclude all dogs and this would include hunting dogs.
‘‘We welcome any feedback on the proposed changes to the bylaw from Fish and Game and any other group or individual.’’
Submissions can be made at letstalk.waimakariri.govt.nz... until June 14.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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.
What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?
Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.
The tiger who came to tea
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