Most Hawke's Bay landowners covered by environment plan

Most of the Tukituki catchment is now covered by a Farm Environmental Management Plan.

Landowners who do not have their Farm Environmental Management Plan (FEMP) in with the Hawke's Bay Regional Council now face possible enforcement action and fines as of this week.

Ninety per cent of the Tukituki catchment is now covered by a FEMP after a late rush by landowners during a grace period granted by the regional council.

However, some 250 landowners had still failed to submit a FEMP by the end of the grace period last Friday.

One of the first regulations to come into effect under Tukituki Plan Change 6, any landowner with 10 or more hectares in the Tukituki catchment was required to have an FEMP in place by May 31.

Landowners with between 4ha and 10ha also need a FEMP, unless they are confirmed as a low-intensity operation.

Before the May 31 deadline, the regional council announced that of the 1229 properties in the catchment that needed a FEMP, 360 were still outstanding.

The council then granted landowners the grace period till June 29 to submit their plan or produce a 'satisfactory response' to the FEMP requirement, or risk fines of up to $300,000.

Before last week's grace period ended, the council released new figures to show that 90 per cent of the catchment was covered by a FEMP, but there were still 253 outstanding.

"Unfortunately, we will need to move to enforcement action or prosecution proceedings for those who don't act," said council's regulation manager Liz Lambert.

"We're not trying to ping people, we want them to do what is required but at the same time we won't let that situation go on forever."

Lambert said the grace period was for the benefit of those landowners who had lodged their FEMPs with an approved provider, but the provider had not yet been able to complete them.

Now the period had ended, Lambert said non-compliant landowners would need resource consent to continue operating, but also that a FEMP would be the first requirement to get consent.

More information is at hbrc.govt.nz, search: #farmplan