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Most farmers have no intention of destroying native bush just to get in ahead of new rules protecting significant natural areas, a farmer and district councillor says.
Most farmers have no intention of destroying native bush just to get in ahead of new rules protecting significant natural areas, according to Grey Valley farmer Anton Becker.
West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield has lost his bid to bar significant natural areas from private land.
It also postponed any further work on SNAs until the Government finalises its national policy statement on indigenous biodiversity, which will set the SNA rules in concrete. But the planning team charged with writing the new district plan says there is no guarantee the national policy statement will be out before the new draft plan is due to go out for public consultation. “It is absolutely critical to have some rules in there ... it would be unfair to landholders and the community if there is no indication of the provisions we will have,” principal planner Lois Easton said. It was n...
Photo: 123RF Members of the Te Tai o Poutini plan committee agonised over the issue for more than an hour at their meeting on Monday, trying to find ways to avoid slapping the 'significant natural area' label on private land. A majority of the committee sees the process as an attack on private property rights. Last month the committee refused, by a narrow majority, to accept a desktop study it had commissioned, mapping SNAs across the region. It also postponed any further work on SNAs until the government finalises its national policy statement on indigenous biodiversity which will set the SN...