At a strategy and policy committee meeting on Tuesday, Horizons regional councillors asked council staff to begin a programme of both short and longer-term One Plan changes to address nutrient management consenting issues for dairy farmers while maintaining freshwater management progress.
Horizons Regional Council chairman Bruce Gordon said in the short term the council was looking for smaller, less complex plan change options which would allow it to continue the process of consenting farms for intensive land uses.
"This process seeks to reduce nutrient loads entering waterways. Whether these short-term options are viable will be the subject of intense investigation in the coming months," Mr Gordon said.
"In the longer term, council has directed officers to start the process of catchment by catchment studies to ensure our approach in the One Plan is consistent with the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM).
"While a recent Ministry for the Environment report has highlighted Horizons has given effect to most of the NPS-FM, there is still work to do on aligning objectives, limit settings and interventions.
"Managing freshwater is a complex environmental, cultural, social and economic challenge and the answers to continued improvement lie in working across all of these fields.
"Although 95 per cent of the One Plan has been successfully implemented, rules and policies for intensive agriculture have been particularly challenging.
"However, it is important to note that good progress has been made around the region in improving water quality, and council is committed to continuing to build on these successes."
The Horizons region has seen significant progress in improving water quality, with largely positive or stable trends across its catchments.
