A regional plan process that has taken more than a decade is nearing an end with the release of a crucial planning document by Environment Canterbury (ECan) on Saturday.
ECan will formally notify decisions on the chapters of Canterbury's Natural Resources Regional Plan that relate to water, land and riverbeds, the last parts of the plan to be publicly notified.
Getting to that stage was one of the crucial tasks the Government set when it appointed commissioners in April to take over the role of sacked elected councillors on the Christchurch-based regional council.
ECan commissioner Peter Skelton said yesterday the notification of the decisions was an important step in ongoing regional planning for water in Canterbury.
The regional plan was intended to sustainably manage the region's natural and physical resources.
The work carried out included 34 hearing stages lasting 74 days by two panels between September, 2006, and June last year.
In all, there were more than 1000 submissions, giving rise to about 60,000 issues that required decisions.
Commissioner Skelton said the goal of the plan was to ensure Canterbury had a robust regional policy and planning framework to ensure the region's water resources were effectively managed in an integrated, comprehensive and forward-looking manner.
He noted the Canterbury Water Management Strategy had been developed since the land and water chapters of the plan were first notified in 2004.
"We plan to review each catchment to ensure our planning framework reflects the vision and principles of the water management strategy."
This work would be assisted by the community-based water management zone committees that were being set up around the region - one for the lower Waitaki-Waimate areas was being established and another for the upper Waitaki catchment was planned for next year.
The decisions on the chapters will apply from the date the decisions are notified.
However, anyone who was a submitter to the process has 15 working days in which to appeal to the High Court on points of law.
