Aggressive flood bylaw called for

If a proposal to change the Otago Regional Council's flood protection bylaw to restrict development on the lower Taieri is to be effective, it will need to be aggressive and get in at the planning stage, Cr Stephen Woodhead says.

It is proposed to change the council's flood protection management bylaw 2008 to try to prevent further development in flood-prone areas of the lower Taieri increasing the flood risk.

At a policy and resource planning meeting yesterday, councillors endorsed the concept, which Cr Woodhead said was the council's only short-term option to control development on the plain, as a Dunedin City Council district plan change could take about five years.

"It's not a perfect solution."

For the bylaw to be effective, the council would have to think quite carefully and avoid the "butting of heads" that would occur if a project got to the consent stage before applicants became aware of it, he said.

"A far more aggressive style will be needed, otherwise we'll be too late every time. We need to think how we will communicate this," Cr Woodhead said.

Intercepting projects at the planning stage would be the key to the change, he said.

Policy and resource planning director Fraser McRae said the issue being dealt with now was the integrity and level of protection of the scheme works.

"This will not solve the problems on the Taieri."

Chief executive Graeme Martin said ultimately both approaches - the bylaw change and plan change - were necessary.

Having land-use controls under the aegis of a "one-stop shop" based at the city council and implemented through a district plan change would take time as it involved disputed issues, he said.

Committee approval for the bylaw change approach was just the first step.

Changes would be developed and go out for public consultation before they were adopted.

rebecca.fox@odt.co.nz