Waikato Regional Council is welcoming a Federated Farmers-led joint project testing the implications of the Healthy Rivers/Wai Ora: Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1 for the rural community.
The council is contributing $30,000 and staff resources to the project which is exploring the realities of implementing the plan change across all sectors including dairy, sheep and beef, arable, drystock, equestrian and lifestyle blocks.
"The research will help provide critical information for the submissions process of the proposed plan change itself and also for when we enter the implementation of the new rules once they become operative," says council chief executive Vaughan Payne.
"Our support for this Federated Farmers initiative underpins the strongly collaborative approach we are taking with the rural sector on Healthy Rivers Wai Ora.
"There are a lot of questions circulating about what the plan change will look like in practice and this project will help us further understand where the issues really are," said Mr Payne.