Update on Resource Management Changes – Following Resource Management Act Reform Announcements
You may have heard, the Government has extended resource consents set to expire before a new system is in place.
The detail of this can be found in the message from ORC below:
Key updates:
All consents due to expire before 31 December 2027 will automatically be extended to this date. The exceptions to this are: water permits and consents to discharge to water or discharge to land where contaminants may enter water that already have a 35-year consent term. These will get no further extension.
All applications in to ‘replace’ a current consent, but a decision has not yet been made by Council, will be reinstated and extended until 31 December 2027. There are options for these applicants; please see further information below.
Consent holders can still decide to apply to ‘replace’ their consent before this new expiry date.
Consent applications will still be processed under Regional Plans and follow the RMA process.
The Duration of Consents Amendment Act does not change the approach for Otago water permits. If a water permit qualifies for Otago’s five-year legislative extension that extension still applies. The national Act does not add or remove time from these permits it simply sets a general maximum duration of up to 35 years for water permits.
Eligible permits will continue to have their expiry dates extended under the existing Otago legislation and all current conditions remain the same. We have begun re-issuing these consents starting with those that expire soonest.
If there are associated consents to the water take eg. damming, diversion or discharge consents and these expire before 31 December 2027, they will be automatically extended until 31 December 2027.
Current consents:
What this means for existing consents issued by ORC:
If it was due to expire in the next two years, the expiry date will be automatically extended to 31 December 2027 or a maximum of 35 years (if the consent is a water permit or discharge permit to water or discharge of contaminants to land where they may enter water)
Consent Holders can continue to rely on existing consents and must comply with all consent conditions.
No action is required from Consent Holders to receive the extension. Council will reissue the consent with this new consent term in early 2026.
Applications in progress:
If you currently have a consent application in with ORC:
Applicants that have an application in to ‘replace’ an existing consent will need to decide whether to continue with the processing of the application or withdraw it.
All applications will be processed in line with the RMA 1991.
If the replacement application includes activities not covered by the existing consent, a new consent for those activities.
Applicants may decide to withdraw their application:
They may still need a new consent for any additional activities not covered by the existing consent.
They may need to lodge a new replacement application before 31 December 2027.
In line with our fees and charges costs incurred to date will be invoiced.
All charges will be reviewed to ensure they are fair and reasonable.
ORC are here to help please contact your consents planner or the consent enquiries team via consent.enquiries@orc.govt.nz if you would like to discuss your situation or need help understanding your options.
MCG Membership
Many of you will have already received an email with a membership form, giving us the chance to communicate with you directly as a member.
If you haven’t received the form but would still like to join, you can find the membership form on our website: www.mcg.org.nz/become-a-member.
Not sure which membership category you fit into? If you only access water through your irrigation scheme, then your category is ‘Scheme Shareholder Member’.
If you have any questions, please get in touch at admin@mcg.org.nz or phone 027 259 9198.
Manuherikia River Ltd
A message from Jeff Grant, Chair of Manuherikia River Ltd:
Last year MRL held meetings around the catchment and talked about the project to raise Falls Dam.
We hope to announce progress on the project shortly.
Want to hear updates directly from MRL in future? Sign up by sending an email to manuherikiariverlimited@gmail.com with your name, phone number and address.
A chance to catch up
Manuherekia Catchment Group will again be at the Central Otago A&P Show on 14 February, come find us to have a chat. We'll also have our proud projects Waiora Manuherekia and Thomsons Catchment on display.
