Alan Taylor was voted as chair of the new Integrated Catchment Committee. Photo / Bevan Conley
Alan Taylor was voted as chair of the new Integrated Catchment Committee. Photo / Bevan Conley
New Horizons regional councillor Alan Taylor will chair a new committee that will focus on the council's whole catchment.
The committee, temporarily called the Integrated Catchment Committee, is an amalgamation of the former Environment Committee and the Catchment Operations Committee.
Horizons chairwoman Rachel Keedwell said regional councils always had a strong focus on catchments as they started as catchment boards.
"What we're trying to do now is look at the catchment as a whole," Keedwell said.
"The river doesn't exist in isolation, so if you're going to have to do work in a river, it's about maximising other benefits such as biodiversity and water quality by looking at it holistically."
The integrated committee replaces the Environment Committee which covered science reports of water quality and riparian planting, biodiversity and biosecurity, and the Catchment Operations Committee which oversaw the river and drainage schemes across the region, including flood protection, river and land management.
"We began working with the concept of whole catchment management last year, and the new committee is about aligning the governance structure with that," Keedwell said.
The council's new committee structure was decided at a Horizons meeting on Tuesday, where Whanganui representative Taylor - a former district councillor - received eight votes to be elected chairman.
"I didn't go over to Horizons to do nothing, I'll do what I can as chair and perform to the best of my ability," Taylor said.
"So the Integrated Catchment Committee is something I could contribute to which looks after things I am particularly interested in."
Bruce Gordon was the only other nominee to chair the new committee.
Gordon received seven votes, including that of Whanganui Horizons councillor David Cotton.
Horizons Regional Council chair Rachel Keedwell says she nominated Alan Taylor as chair because of his extensive experience chairing and strong rural background. Photo / Bevan Conley
The new committee includes the whole council as members.
Taylor said sustainability was difficult to achieve when any human impact occurred.
"But we can do the best we can and there's a lot to be done to ensure we do that.
"As humans, we see things from our perspective, but when an environment changes, what does it mean for every living thing in it?"
Taylor saw the integrated committee as a movement away from the catchment committee that operated through the eyes of the catchment scheme committees and ratepayers affected by those schemes.
"And a movement towards a view of a catchment through the eyes of the tūī and the tōtara, as well as the personnel out there and their cows and sheep."
Keedwell said she nominated Taylor as chairman partly because of his extensive experience.
Taylor previously served as chairman of the Whanganui Rural Community Board, six years as chairman of the Whanganui District Council infrastructure committee and chairman of the New Zealand Grains Council.
"He also has a strong rural background and, because we're dealing with a lot of farmers, I think that's really important," Keedwell said.
Instead of the Environment Committee meeting on one day and the Catchment Operations committee meeting a month later, the two agendas would be pulled together, she said.
"It also sets up a conversation we need to have about what it means for existing scheme structures if we are managing our rivers in a whole catchment approach.
"It might mean nothing changes, or it might mean there's a complete overhaul."
