Decision Report
To:
Mayor and Councillors
From:
Strategic Planning Projects Manager
Date:
Tuesday, 9 May 2017
Document:
#2209699
Appendix A: #2209710 Final draft of Bill and
File reference:
explanatory notes.
Portfolio holder:
Mayor
Meeting date:
Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Subject:
Proposal for Local Bill – Control of Mangroves
Recommendation:
THAT the report be received, and
THAT The Hauraki District Council confirms its support to co-sponsor the Local Bill –
Control of Mangroves: and
That the Thames Coromandel District Council be advised accordingly.
Purpose
Council has previously supported in principle its support to co-sponsor a Local Bill
that would allow the Thames Coromandel (TCDC) and Hauraki District Council’s
(HDC) to introduce controls on the expansion of mangroves in specified areas of
their Districts.
A final draft version of the proposed Local Bill has now been received along with its
explanatory notes which are attached as appendix A. The Council is requested to
consider confirming its support for the draft Bill in order that the Local Bill process
can proceed.
Background
Council, at its meeting of 29 March 2017, considered a report that sought Council’s
support for a Local Bill that would allow TCDC and HDC to develop Mangrove
Management Plans that would allow the control of the expansion of mangroves in
specified areas of their Districts. The Council resolved:
That the Hauraki District Council support in principle the co-sponsoring of a
Local Bill that will define the process and procedure for territorial authorities
to control mangroves within their Districts; and
That the Thames Coromandel District be advised accordingly.
Based on the support in principle the draft Local Bill includes HDC. The final version
of the Local Bill has been received along with its explanatory notes which are
attached as appendix A and the Council is requested to consider confirming its
support for the Bill.
The Member of Parliament for Coromandel has agreed to sponsor the Bill to
Parliament.
Issues and options
The general scientific view on New Zealand mangroves is that there is only one
species (Avicenna marina var. australasica), that they indigenous and are intolerant
of severe frost this limiting their distribution to northern New Zealand.
There is clear evidence that the spread of mangroves is increasing, particularly in
northern harbours and there is likely to be an expansion in their spread further south
as a result of climate change. There is also clear international and national evidence
that the spread of mangroves is has a direct causal relationship with activities on the
land based portion of harbour catchments and estuaries and the contribution of
these to increased sediment load in harbours – thus creating ideal mangrove
habitat.
The control of mangroves has been a particularly contentious and vexatious matter
for the TCDC since the first two consent application for the removal of mangroves –
the first being the removal of mature mangroves in Patiki Bay (Whangamata
Harbour) and mangrove seedlings in Moanaanuanu Harbour in 2003.
Subsequent consent applications have gone to WRC and then the Environment
Court and the costs for consenting for even control of a small area of mangroves
have become prohibitive for community groups.
As result of the difficulty in obtaining resource consents for mangrove
control/removal and the costs associated in obtaining these consents TCDC and the
WRC have become aware of many instances where mature mangroves and
mangrove seedlings have been removed without appropriate approvals and it is
difficult to take enforcement actions these removals are often undertaken with
subterfuge.
The Local Bill provides each Council the discretionary power to develop mangrove
management plans for specified parts of their area subject to the provisions
contained in the Bill. All mangrove management plans would be subject to the
Special Consultative process before their adoption.
HDC and Mangroves
While mangroves have not been a particularly contentious issue for HDC there are
issues developing with the spread of mangroves in HDC; particularly in the lower
boundary in the Firth of Thames – Miranda to Kopu.
There is no question that mangroves are spreading north into the Firth and also
spreading up the Waihou and Piako rivers and up the drainage canals. At present
the mangroves in canals are controlled as part of Councils land drainage
maintenance programme. Future WRC policy development however may make
permission for these maintenance works more difficult.
The explanatory notes to the proposed Bill refer to the RAMSAR site and the
potential spread of mangroves causing issues with the feeding (and roosting) areas
of the many migratory shorebirds. This is not causing any major issue at the
moment as the Miranda Naturalists Trust has a 35 year from WRC to remove
seedling and juvenile mangroves from the small area involved at present.
However, the rate of mangrove expansion is increasing and the Trust may need the
ability to control mangroves over a larger area than presently consented which
would be more easily addressed under the provisions of the Local Bill and there
could well be further issues arise for the Council in the future that could be
addressed by the provisions of the Local Bill if it is enacted.
Significance and Engagement Assessment
This decision does not trigger the Significance and Engagement Policy Assessment
Tool and therefore is not considered significant under the Significance and
Engagement Policy 2014.
In terms of engagement the Local Bill will be the subject of a public submissions
process (should it get that far).
Budget Implications
There are no budget implications for the Council. TCDC has undertaken to meet all
costs.
Recommendation
Since the consideration of the Local Bill by Council in March the key change to the
draft Local Bill has been that mangrove management plans are now discretionary
(rather than compulsory). Given Council’s earlier support I am recommending that
Council now confirm its support for this Local Bill.
Mark Buttimore
Strategic Planning Projects Manager
Appendix A
Thames-Coromandel District Council and
Hauraki District Council Mangrove Management Bill
Local Bill
Explanatory note
General policy statement
The spread of mangroves in the coastal area of the districts of the two councils is
increasingly becoming a concern for local communities.
Aerial photography from the 1940s shows minimal mangrove incursions into the
districts' harbours and the Firth of Thames with white sandy beaches being the
norm.
The lower Firth of Thames is an internationally significant tidal wetland protected by
the Ramsar Convention and is an important wintering ground attracting thousands of
Arctic nesting shorebirds such as the Bar-tailed Godwit and Lesser or Red Knot.
The seaward advance of mangroves since the 1940s has considerably reduced the
feeding habitat available to the birds.
Evident community concern about the impacts of mangroves dates from the early
2000s with, notably, the concerted effort since 2005 by the Whangamata community
to address the spread of mangroves and restoration of harbour amenity.
To date, that process has consumed over a decade and in excess of $1,500,000.
Mechanisms allowing a transfer of authority under the Resource Management Act
1991 from regional to district councils do not adequately address the timing and
resourcing concerns.
The district councils desire to see limited resources more effectively and efficiently
utilised in the provision of core infrastructure and services, such as waste water
treatment plants and catchment sediment management schemes to further protect
estuarine environments.
The process undertaken so far under the Resource Management Act 1991 has been
costly, time-consuming and has not delivered outcomes.
A stream-lined, cost-effective, efficient and community-based process is required to
ensure that the councils are mandated to implement a plan that reduces mangrove
growth to acceptable levels to improve access, recreation, amenity and/or
ecosystem values.
The bill empowers each council to prepare a draft mangrove management plan in
relation to the coastal area of its district to achieve and maintain acceptable levels of
mangrove vegetation in order to restore, protect or enhance the amenity values
and/or ecosystems of the coastal area.
The draft plan is approved through the special consultative procedure under
section 83 of the Local Government Act 2002.
The bill provides that the councils, if they agree, may prepare a mangrove
management plan collaboratively, including by adopting a single integrated plan for
both districts.
The bill empowers each council to implement an approved mangrove management
plan.
Clause by clause analysis
Clause 1 is the title clause.
Clause 2 provides that the Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it
receives the Royal Assent.
Clause 3 defines the terms used in the Bill. Most do not require explanation. The
definition of coastal area (being the area in which a mangrove management plan
may operate) is linked to the definition of coastal marine area in Section 2(1) of the
Resource Management Act 1991. This definition in turn covers not only the
foreshore and seabed but adjacent parts of rivers that flow into the sea.
Clause 4 sets out the purposes of the Act which are to remove mangrove
vegetation from the coastal area and restore, protect and enhance amenity values
and/or ecosystems of the coastal areas.
Clause 5 empowers each council to implement a mangrove management plan if it
decides to do so. Any plan must achieve the purposes of the Act and must include
the following:
a description of specific areas where mangrove management activities are to
take place:
a description of the objectives of the plan, including a description of
appropriate levels of mangrove vegetation; and
a description of methods to be used:
a statement of rules and restrictions applying to mangrove management
activities:
an identification of the amenity values and ecosystems to be restored or
protected:
review mechanisms.
Clause 6 provides for the method by which a mangrove management plan of a
council is to become operative. The process is to be overseen by a committee
including at least one mana whenua representative. The committee prepares a first
draft of the mangrove management plan which is then adopted through the special
consultative procedure of the Local Government Act 2002. This includes public
notification and the opportunity for interested persons to express their views, and
have them considered. The clause also enables the two councils to prepare their
plans collaboratively, including, if they agree, to prepare a single integrated plan.
Clause 7 empowers the councils to carry out mangrove management activities in
accordance with the operative plan. In doing so, a council is not required to comply
with any other enactment that would otherwise regulate or apply to mangrove
management activities.
Scott Simpson
Thames-Coromandel District Council and
Hauraki District Council Mangrove Management Bill
Local Bill
Contents
Page
Preamble
1
Title
5
2
Commencement
5
3
Interpretation
5
4
Purposes of Act
5
5
Purpose and content of mangrove management plan
6
6
Adoption and review of mangrove management plan
6
7
Powers of councils
7
Page 7 of 10
The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows:
Title
This Act is the Thames-Coromandel District Council and Hauraki District Council Mangrove
Management Act
2017.
Commencement
This Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal Assent.
Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
council means-
(a)
the Thames-Coromandel District Council; and
(b)
the Hauraki District Council
coastal area means the coastal marine area within the district of each council, other than
land in private ownership
coastal marine area has the meaning given in section 2(1) of the Resource Management
Act 1991
mangrove management activity –
(a)
means the removal, prevention, monitoring, detection, control, destruction or disposal
of mangrove vegetation; and
(b)
includes the following:
(i)
hand removal of mangrove vegetation:
(ii)
mechanised removal of mangrove vegetation:
(iii)
whole tree removal:
(iv) maintenance dredging
mangrove management plan means the plan that has become operative under section 6(9)
mangrove vegetation means any seed, seedling, plant or remains of mangrove plants that
exists in the coastal area
Purposes of Act
The purposes of this Act are –
(1)
to facilitate the removal of mangrove vegetation in the coastal area of each council to
appropriate levels; and
(2)
to restore, protect and enhance the amenity values and/or ecosystems of the coastal
area from which mangrove vegetation is removed.
Purpose and content of mangrove management plan
(1)
Each council may adopt a mangrove management plan in relation to the coastal area
of its district.
(2)
The purpose of the mangrove management plan is to achieve and maintain appropriate
levels of mangrove vegetation in the coastal area of the council district in accordance
with the purpose of this Act.
Page 8 of 10
(3)
The mangrove management plan must achieve the purposes of this Act.
(4)
The mangrove management plan –
(a)
must include each of the following:
(i)
the identification of areas within the coastal area, by reference to maps, in
which mangrove management activities are to take place:
(ii)
a statement of the objectives of the plan, including a description of
appropriate levels of mangrove vegetation in the identified areas:
(iii)
a description of the methods to be used in achieving the objectives of the
plan:
(iv) a statement of rules and restrictions applying to the undertaking of
mangrove management activities:
(v)
an identification of the amenity values and/or ecosystems of the identified
areas for the purposes of section 4(2):
(vi) a description of mechanisms the council intends to use to assess the
effectiveness of the mangrove management activities in achieving the
objective of the plan; and
(b)
may include any other matter the council considers desirable or necessary to give
effect to the purposes of this Act.
Adoption and review of mangrove management plan
(1)
This section applies if a council decides to adopt a mangrove management plan in
relation to the coastal area of its district.
(2)
Each council shall establish a committee of the council to prepare, adopt and
implement the mangrove management plan.
(3)
The committee must include at least one iwi representative.
(4)
The committee must prepare a first draft of the mangrove management plan.
(5)
The council must use the special consultative procedure under section 83 of the Local
Government Act 2002 in adopting the mangrove management plan, as if references in
that section to “a statement of proposal” were references to the draft mangrove
management plan.
(6)
The council must commence the special consultative procedure within 6 months of
completion of the draft of the mangrove management plan by the committee.
(7)
Within 3 months of completion of the special consultative procedure, the council must
prepare the final mangrove management plan and make it publicly available in the
same manner it made the draft mangrove management plan publicly available as part
of the special consultative procedure.
(8)
The council must have regard to the views expressed during the special consultative
procedure in preparing the final mangrove management plan, to the extent the views
are relevant to the purposes of this Act.
Page 9 of 10
(9)
The mangrove management plan becomes operative on the day it is made publicly
available.
(10) Each council may review its mangrove management plan at any time by conducting the
process set out in sections 6 (1) to (9).
(11) The councils may prepare, adopt and review mangrove management plans
collaboratively.
(12) Without limitation, the councils may:
(a)
prepare a single integrated mangrove management plan covering both districts;
and
(b)
establish a joint committee under clauses 30 and 30A of schedule 7 of the Local
Government act 2002 to prepare the integrated management plan; and
(c)
adopt a joint special consultative procedure covering both districts.
Powers of the councils
(1)
Each council has the power to carry out, and to contract for the carrying out of,
mangrove management activities in accordance with the mangrove management plan.
(2)
In exercising the powers conferred by section 7(1), a council is not required to comply
with any other enactment that would otherwise regulate or apply to mangrove
management activities.
(3)
Each council must comply with the rules and reporting requirements in the mangrove
management plan.
Page 10 of 10
