Chairwoman Gretchen Robertson said the council still had a deadline to notify Otago’s land and water plan by June 30 next year.
Mr Bishop said the council did not.
Mr Bishop this month wrote to local government agencies around the country to spell out forthcoming changes to resource management legislation and the review and replacement of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPSFM 2020).
There would be changes to the application of the hierarchy of obligations in te Mana o te Wai provisions of the NPSFM 2020, Mr Bishop said.
Consent applicants would not have to demonstrate how their activities adhered to the hierarchy, and councils could "disapply" the hierarchy from consent decisions, he said.
Further, regional policy statements or regional plans that were to give effect to NPSFM 2020 would also have a new statutory deadline of December 31, 2027, he said.
The following day, the council issued a statement in which Cr Robertson said given the council’s work to date on its land and water plan, a proposed meeting with Mr Bishop and Environment Minister Penny Simmons was now "critical".
"It’s critical now because our council and the wider community desperately need certainty about any future changes and how they may impact our plan process," she said.
The council had been working to meet a deadline of June 30, imposed by former environment minister David Parker after the council’s current plan had been found to be not fit for purpose.
"This specific requirement for ORC has not been removed," she said.
She later confirmed to the Otago Daily Times the council view was that its deadline to notify Otago’s land and water plan had not changed.
"We have had ministerial direction to notify by mid-2024.
"This direction still exists.
"We are working to this timeframe and ... we are inviting the ministers to meet with ORC and further understand the need for certainty."
The ODT also asked Mr Bishop if the council’s deadline had changed.
"Yes," he said.
"The deadline for councils to notify their freshwater plan changes has been extended by an extra three years, to December 31, 2027.
"This will provide time to replace and start implementation on the new national policy statement for freshwater management and means that unnecessary costs in relation to the NPSFM 2020 do not need to be incurred."
Cr Andrew Noone among others recently lamented the "time pressure" the previous environment minster, Mr Parker, had put on the council since 2019.
The science behind the regulations the council produced and its engagement with the community about the plan would have been improved if the council had not been "pushed into a corner" by the former minister, Cr Noone said.
Previously, the council has twice asked Mr Parker for an extension on its plan.
On the first occasion it resulted in a second investigation by Prof Peter Skelton.
Then again in February the council asked for an extension and was granted an additional six months — to June 30.
Mr Bishop this week did not say when he planned to meet the council.
