Calls for regional council to address Kaiapoi River issues
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Waimakariri’s deputy mayor has called on the Canterbury regional council to stop ‘‘side-stepping’’ issues with the Kaiapoi River.
Neville Atkinson has called on Environment Canterbury (ECan) to step up and investigate the causes of pollution levels in the Kaiapoi and Ruataniwha Cam rivers.
Atkinson was addressing community concerns at a Kaiapoi-Tuahiwi Community Board meeting on Monday evening.
Local residents formed a new catchment group last month, following concerns about the degradation on their local rivers, which they blamed on the use of herbicides.
ECan has acknowledged issues with macrophyte (weedbed) dieback and freshwater mussel (kākāhi) deaths, but said it was primarily due to saltwater incursions and also heavy frosts.
But Atkinson rejected ECan’s explanation.
‘‘As is evident, this has been going on for years. It is very evident there is a problem and whether it is a natural problem or a man-made problem, I don’t know. But I want to know what it is.
‘‘We owe it to our community to help ECan to come up with some answers, but ECan needs to stop side-stepping.’’
Atkinson said residents may not like the outcome, but it was important to get some answers.
Councillor Philip Redmond said the issue was complex.
‘‘If there was a simple fix, it would have been fixed a long time ago. It is going to be a long process.’’
Waimakariri District Council water environment adviser Sophie Allen said saltwater could come from other sources, but it was most likely from the sea.
Community members raised similar concerns following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
A 2018 report by ECan principal scientist Adrian Meredith (pictured) concluded there were multiple causes, but found ‘‘increasing episodes of saline water intrusion flowing into the lower Kaiapoi River’’.
The river was historically the north branch of the Waimakariri River and environmental changes following the earthquakes both contributed to the high levels of saltwater intrusion.
Drought conditions and changing farming practices were also factors, the 2018 report found.
The community board asked council staff to work assist ECan to investigate the causes of saltwater incursions, including tides, river flows and salinity data and to monitor water quality and aquatic ecology trends.
Kaiapoi is known as the river town, with the river being a popular spot for boaties and whitebaiters.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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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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