If the council’s science team could not get some of the more simple work ahead of it done in the next few months, Mr Parker’s 2023 deadline for the land and water regional plan (LWRP) was at risk, council science manager Julie Everett-Hincks said.
Getting the scientific work in order for three areas - the Catlins, Upper Lakes and Dunedin - by September (for consultation to begin) was required in order to keep the rest of the science programme for the LWRP on track, she said.
Dr Everett-Hincks told the council her team had a project management system in place and regular meetings scheduled to manage this ‘‘significant’’ risk.
In a report to councillors last month, updating them on the programme to gather land and water information for the LWRP, she said she was confident the choice to do robust scientific work in just the most complex catchments, was the way to go.
Due to the workload it was expected additional work through plan changes would be needed after 2023.
But September was a looming milestone for the council, which has recently come under scrutiny from the Environment Minister.
The council was told in 2019 it was underinvesting in science and it needed to re-do its plans as a matter of urgency.
‘‘There is a significant delivery risk. If the first deliverables of the science work programme are not completed by September 2021, then the project will not meet its end deliverable following the current project approach and resourcing,’’ Dr Everett-Hincks said in her June 23 report.
A raft of new staff have already been hired to do the work.
The LWRP is required to provide clear direction on how land and water are to be managed in Otago.
It must also give effect to the aims and policies specified in any national policy statement.
The 2023 deadline is considered tight due to the amount of work that needs to happen before any public consultation on proposed changes to water catchments can go ahead.
But the council has now set out a programme for the work required, based around only the more complex catchments getting the most robust science.
Dr Everett-Hincks said the first piece of work in the programme was to consult on the simpler or better understood catchments.
Dr Everett-Hincks team will do ‘‘bespoke catchment modelling’’ in the more complex Taieri and North Otago catchments, where water demands were more complicated and detailed information was important.
In some parts of the Dunstan, Roxburgh, and Lower Clutha catchments the council would also be doing fine-scale hydrology analyses.
Bespoke hydrology modelling was done for the Manuherikia catchment, she said.
As the council gathered information and consulted with the community she expected consultation to identify areas where the council would need to collect more data, she said.
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Excuses, excuses! ORC has had over 30 years to gather this information. This council is out of it’s depth and the Minister needs to take control. Rather than spending tens of millions of dollars on unnecessary offices and political gimmicks, ratepayers money should be spent on what the council is warranted to do; implement New Zealand’s environmental regulations.
The ORC is in total disarray. The science team has farmed most work out to consultants costing the ratepayer. The Hazards Dept management are so conservative and dogmatic to engage with they make the ORC the worst council in the south island to work with. The policy manager is just mad celebrating the recently notified RPS which cost millions and is legally a shambles and mirrors the previous version smashed by the courts. And then there are weird submissions on consents at other council by Ms Dawe that are arrogant and flawed. This council is broken and the councillors do nothing. It is time to remove all the managers and starr again.
Incompetence at its best.