Eleven weeks of hearings for non-freshwater parts of the council’s forthcoming regional policy statement wrapped up in Dunedin late last month.
Shortly before those hearings concluded, chief freshwater commissioner Judge Laurie Newhook appointed Ron Crosby (chairman), Rauru Kirikiri, Allan Cubitt and Bianca Sullivan, who served as the panel for the non-freshwater parts, as the freshwater panel.
The panel later advised the freshwater hearings would begin at the end of August.
In a third minute, issued at the start of this month, the panel extended the deadline for evidence to June 28.
An Otago Regional Council summary and assessment of the submissions received, published late last week, said a broad section of people "from all walks of life" had contributed to developing the regional policy statement.
"The objectives and policies in this [regional policy statement] signal a significant step change in Otago, mindful of the need to consider the environment that will be inherited by future generations.
"We are asking our communities to join us in that change, to create a future of opportunity and security for all of us."
At first the council tried to progress its entire regional policy statement through a new freshwater process, but a High Court decision forced it to separate it into the separate freshwater and non-freshwater parts now under way.
When Judge Newhook appointed the same commissioners for both parts of the hearings, ORC policy and science general manager Anita Dawe said the continuity would be beneficial.
"It means integrating the document back together should be more straightforward."
Further, the freshwater hearings would be much shorter than the non-freshwater hearings, Ms Dawe said.
There were 47 submitters to the freshwater parts, and 23 further submitters, while the regional policy statement as a whole had 343 valid submissions.
The just-published council assessment said Otago’s first regional policy statement became operative at the end of 1998.
A replacement was made largely operative in 2019, with most of the remaining provisions being made operative in 2021.
However, a suite of provisions relating to port activities at Port Chalmers and Dunedin was still under appeal, it said.
Notifying the regional policy statement in June 2021, and then the land and water plan next year, are major milestones the council agreed to as it works to meet recommendations from Environment Minister David Parker after a 2019 investigation.
