Dunedin local government meeting
Monday 30 October
National Environmental Standards
Contaminated land
- Do not rush the contaminated land standard through, it needs to be good.
- A National Environmental Standard for contaminated land will be welcomed as it will ensure everyone is on the same wavelength, including councils and contractors.
Air quality
- Otago District Council finds it really useful to have the air quality standards to back them up when issues arise e.g. backyard burning.
Water
- The timeframe for enforcement action for water quality (including discharges to ground water) needs to be one year not six months to allow enforcement to take place after awareness of breaches is raised.
- Territorial local authorities are complaining about costs due to new water schemes.
Water
National Environmental Standards
- Need to protect access to resources, including water, in the future, probably via National Policy Statements with good stakeholder dialogue up front.
- Need to do preparatory work before any standards come in to effect, e.g. air quality standards. A lot of work is being duplicated around the country. Early research is needed to look at how the standards will be implemented.
General comments
- Urban vs rural issues can be polarised resulting in “hung” decisions
- A consensus is starting to develop amongst the community.
- All consents in one catchment should expire at the same time.
- The ability of a plan to respond quickly to change is important.
- It is good to have the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry for the Environment talking to each other.
- Good communication is needed between local and central government
Climate change
Education and information
- What is happening with carbon zero and the 5 tonne challenge? Is it viable?
- Are we going to meet our Kyoto commitments?
- What is happening with the USA? Is it the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate or Kyoto Protocol?
General comments
- How can councils get information on the business opportunities provided under government policies like projects to reduce emissions (PRE)?
- Clarity is needed about what government is announcing on climate change policy.
- Clarity is needed on what regional councils should be assessing in terms of public transport direction and priorities in calculating environmental benefits. LTNZ and the Ministry of Transport should provide more practical guidance.
- Where is the information on the implications of sea level rise? What is useful? The uptake of existing information is low. What is happening with energy efficiency in homes? When will information come out?
Environmental reporting
ENZ07
- A national state of the environment report is needed.
- The report should be highly visual (use maps, etc) with limited text.
- The report should include an executive summary for environmental results.
- The report should get to the point and spare the context (front end stuff).
- Information should be provided for national benchmarking.
- Maps and tables need to be big enough to read easily.
- Different products should be produced for different targeted audiences.
General interest
Waste
- Should be less government intervention in term of waste disposal.
- Should be levies.
- Should be packaging rules, not a Packaging Accord.
- The Packaging Accord should be mandatory.
- Should be more government control over deposits, e.g. for glass bottles.
- Recycling of most products does not happen especially in rural regions.
- A surcharge/duty or tax is needed on items that are only designed to last 1-2 years.
- The lifecycle of an item e.g. a drill does not extend longer then the warranty.
- Information is needed about what other Councils are doing.
Transport
- People’s attitudes towards transportation need to be changed.
- Communities have disappeared over time because of the motorcar. How do we build and manage communities?
- MfE should tip the balance so it is safer to walk than cycling.
Education and information
- Information is needed on how to retrofit homes and build more sustainably.
Last updated: 27 February 2008
