Crs Bell and Laws said in a statement they hoped there would be ''a little less anxiety in the Central and Lakes districts'' over the proposed plan.
The two councillors last week supported a successful move for some further efforts to prepare the 1(D) plan change to ''lie on the table'' in the meantime.
An open forum is to be held, at a time yet to be determined, for the matter to be discussed.
Concerns had been voiced in several quarters and further dialogue, through an open forum, would be helpful in guiding the council on how to deal with the issues and the proposed plan change 1(D), he said yesterday.
A report by council director policy planning and resource management Fraser McRae was tabled at a council policy committee meeting last week.
It said water takes from river main stems were largely constrained by minimum flows and involved many takes, while residual flows in tributaries were linked to individual takes.
The plan provisions for setting residual takes were ''less certain than those for minimum flows'' and ''produce uncertainty for processing applications to take water from tributaries''.
However, Crs Bell, Laws and other councillors said the proposed plan change came at a time when other water plan changes were still bedding in and were causing ''real uncertainty and anxiety''.
The consultation process over the proposed plan had ''raised questions that needed to be properly clarified and answered'', Cr Bell said.
The passing of a motion for the proposed plan change to lie on the table effectively halted any further action in the meantime.
Cr Laws said an open workshop was to be held on ''the issues around residual water flows and for interested parties and communities to have a direct say into that workshop''.
Cr Bell said he had suggested Alexandra as the best venue for the open workshop.
