Operative Waikato Regional Policy Statement (October 2000)

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Preface

It is my pleasure to present the first Regional Policy Statement for the Waikato Region. The Regional Policy Statement is an important document for the Waikato. It sets out the significant resource management issues for the Region and the methods that will be used to manage natural and physical resources over the next ten years.

Preparation of this Statement would not have been possible if we had not listened, in the first instance, to the views of the regional community. The information from Council’s Vision 2000 consultative process was used as background material, but the regionally significant issues in this RPS have been developed through technical working groups, consultation, a draft RPS and submissions, the proposed RPS and submissions/further submissions, hearings and the determinations that followed. The willingness with which different sectors of the community have responded to the Council’s requests for participation in its policy formulation has been appreciated. I believe this input adds strength to the document as a statement of our collective future.

The Waikato is a diverse region; diverse in its geographical features, natural and physical resources, settlement patterns, social and cultural needs, and local economies. The Council, within this Policy Statement, has attempted to recognise this diversity by focusing on the principles of sustainable resource management while maintaining the flexibility to respond to local conditions.

Throughout the Regional Policy Statement, two key themes are emphasised to promote the sustainable management of the Region's resources. These are:

• The resource management issues which have, or could have, effects that need addressing, i.e. the Regional Policy Statement is issue driven.
  
• Policies and methods are based on achieving results which reflect the net maintenance or enhancement of environmental conditions, i.e. are effects based.

Our current lifestyles place a heavy demand on the Region's natural and physical resources. If we are to maintain the environmental conditions we enjoy, and ensure that future generations have similar opportunities, standards must be developed to prevent further environmental degradation.

In some cases, natural and physical resources are already degraded. Policies have been formulated which allow for the implementation of programmes to enhance degraded resources or bring about a change in resource use attitudes and behaviours. As the policies contained in this document start to have effect, and the state of the Region’s resources changes, the policy statement will need to be reviewed, This has been foreseen as directions include the potential for future changes.

Sustainable resource management provides many challenges, both now and in the future. The Regional Policy Statement will enable us to meet these challenges together.

Neil Clarke
Chairman

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