This Order in Council supports councils and communities by extending timeframe requirements in existing legislation that are unable to be met because of the severe weather events. It particularly addresses issues in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti/Gisborne.
20 September 2023
31 December 2027 (clause 5 expires 21 September 2025)
Severe Weather Emergency Recovery (Resource Management—Time Extensions) Order 2023 [New Zealand Legislation website]
The severe weather events of early 2023 significantly impacted the work programmes and workloads of councils and communities in affected areas. This is making it difficult for them to comply with Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) legislative requirements and respond to RMA planning processes.
Changes this Order makes include:
Extending the statutory timeframe for Gisborne District Council and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to take prosecution action from 12 months to 24 months.
Extending the timeframes for Gisborne District Council and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to notify their freshwater planning instruments. Gisborne District Council will receive a 2 year extension until 31 December 2026 and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council a 3 year extension until 31 December 2027.
Extend the timeframe for certain classes of stock to be excluded from waterbodies in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti/Gisborne by 2 years, from 30 June 2023 to 30 June 2025.
Extend the timeframe for Hastings District Council to implement the National Planning Standards until 31 August 2026.
This Order applies to the Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti/Gisborne regions. Each timeframe extension enabled by the Order is limited to a specific activity in a geographical area, either at a regional or district scale.
The RMA provides a 12 month window for prosecution action to be started for non-compliances. The 12 month timeframe starts from the date on which the non-compliance first became known or should have become known to the consent authority.
Extending these statutory timeframes to 24 months gives Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Gisborne District Council more time to investigate the complex non-compliances which have arisen during and following the severe weather events.
The Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 (NBEA) provides a 24 month enforcement and prosecution timeframe, however this longer timeframe does not apply to offences which occurred prior to the commencement of the Act on 23 August 2023.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Gisborne District Council have 24 months to start prosecution proceedings for offences which became known or should have become known between 8 January 2023 and 21 September 2023. The timeframe extension applies to all prosecution proceedings initiated by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Gisborne District Council, not just those related to the severe weather events.
Prosecution proceedings undertaken by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council or Gisborne District Council for offences known or which should have been known prior to 8 January 2023 are subject to the standard timeframes outlined in the RMA or NBEA as they apply. Similarly, offences which arise after 21 September 2023 will be subject to standard RMA and NBEA legislation timeframes.
This change does not affect prosecution proceedings undertaken by any party other than the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council or Gisborne District Council.
Gisborne District Council, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Hastings District Council have advised that the severe weather events have impacted their capacity to meet statutory deadlines set out under the RMA and associated regulations. By extending these timeframes, affected councils can balance their recovery efforts while still working towards implementing national direction.
The RMA requires regional councils to notify their freshwater management planning instrument by 31 December 2024. This Order gives Gisborne District Council an additional 2 years to notify their planning instrument (31 December 2026) and gives Hawke’s Bay Regional Council an additional 3 years (31 December 2027).
The freshwater planning instrument is prepared by councils but requires considerable consultation with stakeholders and communities. The extended timeframes allow additional time to undertake that consultation.
The Stock Exclusion regulations specify deadlines by which pastoral stock must be excluded from waterways, including lakes, rivers, and natural wetlands. All new pastoral systems are required to exclude stock from waterways from the start, with existing systems given between three and five years to exclude stock based on their classification. Some classifications were required to be excluded by 1 July 2023 and the remainder by 1 July 2025.
Many farms in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti/Gisborne have become non-compliant with these regulations as the severe weather events severely damaged or destroyed pastoral fencing. The Order means that the date for all pastoral stock to be excluded from waterways in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti/Gisborne is now 1 July 2025.
The Order does not change the timeframes for stock exclusion regulations in any regions other than Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti/Gisborne.
The National Planning Standards specify timeframes in which councils must implement mandatory standards in their District Plan. The standards are largely structural, but take time to implement.
The Order has extended the timeframe for Hastings District Council to implement the National Planning Standards until 31 August 2026. It does not alter any of the other requirements of the National Planning Standards.