Days after the council began a month-long series of community meetings on its land and water plan, chief executive Richard Saunders wrote to Federated Farmers Otago president Luke Kane to say feedback from the first of 12 planned consultation sessions would result in changes to staff recommendations.
Mr Saunders also acknowledged a feeling among farmers that past feedback received through workshops had not been reflected in the draft material the council was consulting on.
"I want to provide you some assurance that this consultation phase is genuine and that there will be changes when we report back to council seeking final direction on the plan," he said.
He said the council was "balancing multiple positions and opinions on how we should manage potential environmental effects of activities in Otago".
"We acknowledge that there are areas of the draft rules that have not landed in a way that makes planning and operations on farm simple, providing certainty to farmers.
"This was clear through the feedback we heard in Oamaru and will result in recommended changes when we report back to our council."
While the the final decision on a notified plan would rest with councillors, he urged Federated Farmers "to continue to engage with ORC through this consultation process".
Mr Saunders’ September 21 email was forwarded to more than a dozen farming leaders and Federated Farmers staff.
It prompted a reply from Federated Farmers policy and advocacy general manager Paul Melville, who said changing information on the council website was "causing a lot of confusion at our end".
"It is making it very hard to know what is being proposed," Mr Melville said.
Communication with the group’s members had been difficult "as we don’t have a great understanding of what we are dealing with".
The following day, council policy and science general manager Anita Dawe apologised and explained how outdated information had accidentally been included in the council’s consultation material during an upgrade of the appearance of the webpage.
The emails were among those included in correspondence between the council and the advocacy group released to the Otago Daily Times under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
Much of the 84 pages of correspondence of the past six months showed Federated Farmers was one of a large number of individuals and organisations regularly receiving updates on the hearings for the council’s regional policy statement hearings.
The emails also revealed that Mr Saunders contacted Mr Kane at the start of his tenure at the council in June to see if Federated Farmers wanted to continue high-level meetings between the organisations introduced by his predecessor, interim chief executive Pim Borren.
The offer was accepted.
More than 70 people attended the last of the council’s community sessions for the draft land and water plan on Friday.
The council’s consultation continues until Monday when online feedback on the draft plan closes.
The plan is due to be notified at the end of June next year.
Last week, representatives from Otago’s forestry sector said the council’s draft rules for forestry would have catastrophic consequences for the sector.
The council was criticised for not engaging with the forestry industry before drafting the rules that would regulate it.
