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Talk Environment Roadshow 2005

In October 2005, close to 2400 people from various walks of life - industry, local government and the community attended a series of meetings held across New Zealand on the Talk Environment Roadshow.

We enjoyed meeting with you and were pleased with the animated discussions and informed debate that took place. Those of you who attended the roadshow may be aware that we did a lot of listening and took away a lot of notes. The notes, as they were recorded by us, are reproduced here:

The 2005 roadshow also included a workshop on the recent amendments to the Resource Management Act for local government and resource management practitioners.

View the presentation given to the public meetings on the roadshow

The Talk Environment Roadshow is your opportunity to provide input into the Ministry for the Environment’s current and emerging work programmes.

This webpage updates you on some of the ways your feedback is influencing the Ministry’s work programmes and policy development. It is not intended to be comprehensive, but it provides a good indication of how your views and ideas are helping to shape our work.

We will provide a further update on our programmes when we meet with you again in the Talk Environment Roadshow 2006 which will be held later this year.

Feedback from the roadshow meetings was forwarded to Ministry staff to be incorporated into current work programmes where appropriate. The degree to which your feedback was incorporated into work programmes depended on whether the topic was information giving, or an information gathering topic.

The main topic areas for the Talk Environment Roadshow 2005 were:

Resource Management Act (RMA)

The Resource Management Act was a popular topic again, given the recent amendments and the inclusion of a separate RMAA05 workshop at the Roadshow.

Resource Management Amendment Act 2005

You asked us for clear guidance on how the amendments should be implemented, particularly relating to: the plans and regional policy statements, consent processing and iwi consultation areas.

What we’ve been doing:

  • we have completed an update of all the guidance notes on the Quality Planning website
  • we have updated the Making Good Decisions Programme material and provided specific training on the updates to accredited decision makers
  • we have updated training material to include guidance on the RMA amendments.
  • we are updating existing iwi RMA publications

We have answered specific frequently asked questions on the amendments.

New RMA guidance

You asked for new guidance on specific RMA topics

  • We have developed new guidance in the following areas: land transport noise and tourism and the RMA, with ongoing work on triennial agreements under the Local Government Act and plan structure and provisions.

Shortage of RMA practitioners

You confirmed the difficulties councils and consultants are facing retaining resource management practitioners.

  • We continue to work closely with professional institutes, the tertiary sector, and employers to identify initiatives that can be pursued to address this shortage.

RMA training

You asked for more training for resource management practitioners to enable capacity building.

  • We have run workshops on enforcement, structure planning, monitoring and reporting and for RMA hearings administrators.
  • We are developing training on historic heritage and the RMA.
  • We are investigating developing a structured programme similar to the Making Good Decisions Programme for resource management practitioners.

Increased public education about the RMA

You asked for increased public education about the RMA, particularly planning processes and council hearings.

  • We have enhanced online RMA service delivery to disseminate information and improve RMA understanding and providing more RMA information to the public.
  • We have made good progress on:
    • getting all RMA planning documents online and in user friendly formats;
    • enabling online lodgement and processing of resource consent applications and associated submissions;
    • providing information on RMA processes and decisions online; and
    • providing universal electronic application forms on the MfE website.
  • We plan to run a seminar for local authorities on getting RMA information online.
  • We have updated Ministry for the Environment RMA public brochures and guidance
  • We have produced a CD about Resource Management Act processes in order to assist the business community and the general public better understand and participate in the RMA.
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National Environmental Standards and National Policy Statements

There was wide support for the introduction of national environmental standards. However, concerns were raised about the consultation process, opportunities for input into the development of standards and the cost of implementation.

Contaminated land

There was wide support for a national environmental standard on contaminated land but concern about the details of the proposed standard.

You considered that the standard should be New Zealand-based and should protect the wider environment as well as people. Concerns were raised about the technical elements of the proposed standards, particularly the basis of some of the proposed clean-up values, and the roles of regional councils.

  • As a result of this feedback, public consultation on the proposed standard was postponed. To address the concerns raised, the Ministry anticipates releasing a discussion paper in October 2006 on the wider policy framework for contaminated land.

Air quality

The 14 air quality national environmental standards were generally accepted.

You asked the government to subsidise more efficient forms of heating and insulation, particularly for retro-fitting of existing homes.

  • We are working with other central government agencies, local government industry and community groups on the Warm Homes project. Recently the Ministry has funded retrofits in Nelson and Christchurch and funded research into heating, housing and health - and investment totalling $1m.

You suggested a role for us in raising awareness about air pollution and encourage people to change from polluting forms of heating.

  • We have run community workshops in 2006 to raise awareness on this issue and will be continuing this programme into 2007.

You asked for standards for vehicle exhaust emissions were widely called for.

  • Land Transport NZ and the Ministry of Transport will be introducing rules for vehicle exhaust emissions, scheduled to come into force by November 2006. We will continue to work with the Ministry of Transport on progressively upgrading emission standards.

Human drinking-water sources

The general intent of the proposed standard for human drinking-water sources was supported, particularly the catchment approach.

You voiced some concerns about the proposal. For instance, local government were concerned that the standard may lead to increased costs for small communities and farmers.

  • Since the last Roadshow, the standard has been through a national consultation process, with feedback from over 80 submitters in local and central government, industry and the community. This has resulted in some changes to the proposed standard, which we hope will make it easier to implement. A summary of submissions is available on the website.
    By the time of the 2006 Roadshow, we hope to be making recommendations to the Minister about development of the NES.

Septic tanks

Many people at the last Talk Environment Roadshow suggested that we should develop a NES addressing septic tanks. We are currently working with local government on development of a discussion document that will outline how a NES could address septic tanks management.

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Waste

A lot of the feedback on the waste topic supports current Ministry work programmes, particularly in the areas of organic waste, sustainability in government, waste management planning, construction/demolition waste, litter and work with tourism planning.

Energy

You voiced a growing interest in options for generating energy from 'intractable' wastes.

  • We are examining options for organisations considering energy from waste initiatives.

Litter and flytipping

You voiced concern about increasing problems associated with litter and flytipping, and asked for leadership from us on this issue.

  • We continue to work with the litter steering group to manage the challenges and opportunities associated with litter.
  • We are consulting with the Department of Internal Affairs on a proposed update of the Litter Act 1979. This will provide councils with some useful tools to tackle litter issues, in particular flytipping.

Waste statistics

You were interested in waste statistics, and how central and local government are performing against the targets in the New Zealand Waste Strategy.

  • We have a current work programme to report on progress against the targets in the New Zealand Waste Strategy 2002, this will be completed by the end of 2006.

Communication with Local Government

Local government participants highlighted the need for us to find better ways to communicate their waste related programmes to them.

  • We will investigate options for better communication with local government.

Last updated: 17 September 2007