Operative Waikato Regional Policy Statement (October 2000)
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Appendix 2:
Preparation and Contents of Regional Policy Statements - Legislative Requirements
When preparing or changing its Regional Policy Statement, Environment Waikato must do so in accordance with1:
- the functions of regional councils under the Resource Management Act (see Appendix 1)
- the purpose and principles of the Act (see Figure 1)
- the duty to consider alternatives, assess benefits and costs2
- any regulations made under the Act3.
The matters provided for in regional policy statements should reflect the circumstances of the Region - the significant resource management issues, the special relationship the regional community may have with natural and physical resources, and likely future needs. Over time, the circumstances of the Region are likely to alter and the regional policy statement may need to be amended to cater for these new circumstances.
While the contents of the RPS will reflect the circumstances of the Region, EW is required to state a number of matters4. These are listed in Figure 4
Further matters EW must have regard to when preparing or changing its RPS include5:
- management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts
- relevant planning documents recognised by an iwi authority and affected by the regional policy statement
- regulations relating to the conservation or management of taiapure or fisheries
- regulations made under the Resource Management Act, including regulations prescribing national environmental standards.
Environment Waikato must also have regard to the extent to which the RPS needs to be consistent with the policy statement and plans of adjacent regional councils.
Figure 4: Contents of a Regional Policy Statement
A Regional Policy Statement Shall State:
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- the significant resource management issues of the Region; and
- matters of resource management significance to iwi authorities; and
- the objectives sought to be achieved by the statement; and
- the policies in regard to those significant issues and objectives, and an explanation of those policies; and
- the methods used or to be used to implement the policies and
- the principal reasons for adopting the objectives policies, and methods of implementation set out in the statement; and
- the environmental results anticipated from the implementation of those policies and methods; and
- the processes to be used to deal with issues which cross local authority boundaries and issues between territorial authorities or between regions; and
- for the Region or any part of the Region, which local authority shall have responsibility in its own area for developing objectives, policies and rules relating to the control of the use of land for:
- the avoidance or mitigation of natural hazards:
- the prevention or mitigation of any adverse effects of the storage, use, disposal, or transportation of hazardous substances
- and may state particular responsibilities for particular hazards or hazardous substances or groups of hazardous substances; but if no responsibilities for a hazard or hazardous substance are identified in the policy statement, the regional council shall retain primary responsibility for the hazard or hazardous substance; and
- the procedures to be used to review the above matters and to monitor the effectiveness of the statement as a means of achieving its objectives and policies; and
- any other information that the regional council considers appropriate; and
- such additional matters as may be appropriate for the purpose of fulfilling the regional council’s functions, powers, and duties under the Act.
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Footnotes
- RMA, s61.
- Section 32 of the RMA outlines Environment Waikato’s duties with respect to considering alternatives, assessing benefits and costs.
- At the time of writing this document there were no regulations which directly influenced the development of the Regional Policy Statement.
- RMA, s62(1)(a-k).
- RMA, s61(2). See supporting documentation for details with respect to these matters.