Being a farmer and an Otago regional councillor, I have been heavily involved in catchment management and community-led environmental initiatives. My role is representing the needs of our community, not pushing any political agenda.
When it comes to managing Otago’s land and water resources, my focus is on achieving workable, balanced solutions which support farmers and local communities; caring for the land and water to sustain ourselves for the long term.
The government decision to amend legislation to halt freshwater plans and stop the Otago Regional Council (ORC) from notifying its land and water regional plan follows five years of the council working with community and towards the plan’s well overdue updating.
Contrary to some accusations, there was never an attempt to lock in past government policies. Instead, the draft plan was about addressing existing gaps for the benefit of landowners and the environment. The delay in notifying this plan means the ORC now faces looming deadlines, but without clear solutions at hand.
The regional sector across the country was legally required to continue to develop their respective land and water regional plans. It’s worth emphasising the ORC had the most advanced plan and many other councils were continuing to progress their plans, some also with imminent notification dates. Under current law the regional councils were still legally required to develop their land and water regional plans for notification before the end of 2027, with direction in law to do so without unreasonable delay.
The government chose to stop the notification of all councils’ land and water regional plans — which it is entitled to do.
There were two options:
■Publicly notify the new plan and go into the hearing processes, which would have allowed for new government directives to be included if they emerged through the hearing process.
■Pause the plan and include government directives as they become clear, ahead of a new notification date once the updated NPS-FM (national policy statement — freshwater management) is gazetted.
Depending on the degree of change this may need some backwards steps in the plan development process. In November, the ORC will start reassessing its options given the government directive.
In the meantime, I will continue advocating for realistic solutions which address the challenges faced by our communities.
For years, we’ve been working to develop a sensible and effective land and water plan that both supports farming and maintains strong environmental standards.
Farmers have taken significant strides towards sustainable practices, investing time, money and effort into water-care initiatives and community projects. Our markets demand strong environmental stewardship, and most of us recognise that a degree of regulation is necessary — not to impede, but to support our work and give it legitimacy.
Pragmatic and flexible rules give us certainty, certainty to continue doing what we do best, producing food and at the same time looking after our natural resources. Key aspects like gravel extraction, operational drain clearing, earthworks consents, sediment trap establishment and hydro-electric power all require flexibility in policymaking to reflect the individual needs of landowners.
The draft plan, which is publicly available, offered just this by letting farmers use a simple, new Fresh Water Farm plan to bypass unnecessary consent requirements.
The plan provides achievable pathways for on-farm water storage and repairs and/or replacement of storage dams and irrigation infrastructure. All waterways have minimum flows based on the available information with long lead-in times for some. Cross mixing of waters is not prohibited. Urban wastewater has a consenting pathway for discharge to water, with a preference for land-based options.
The repeated unsubstantiated costs to ratepayers reported in recent months are nothing but headline-grabbing attempts by some to justify their misjudged positions. They don’t reflect the draft that was to be put out for formal public consultation.
For Otago, there are short-term water allocation consents which will soon require reconsenting, and when plan 6A comes back into effect in April 2026 there will potentially be a large number of consents being needed for contaminant runoff from farms under rules the ORC has already identified as challenging to implement — a scenario which is simply unworkable.
We will need help offered by government to mitigate potential impending costs. We have been offered and should accept its offer to be close to the development of the new national policy statement. This will allow us early access to changes in direction to be incorporated in the review of our draft plan.
In the interim I will continue to work with our communities offering pragmatic practical solutions to manage our environment. I will continue to focus on the outcomes, not the politics. We can achieve an Otago to be proud of. Our future should not be a choice between production and the environment.
This is not enduring. We need the strength and knowledge of all to achieve, both a sustainable environment and strong enduring livelihoods. Flexibility, pragmatism and efficiency must remain at the forefront as we continue the planning process.
It’s time to set aside political grandstanding and focus on taking actions that benefit Otago as a whole.
■Lloyd McCall is a generational West Otago farmer and deputy chairman of the ORC.
