The first meeting of Environment Canterbury's new Government-appointed commissioners under chair Dame Margaret Bazley took place this morning without a hitch.
The legislation and its preamble outline the projects to be fast-tracked.
At the meeting this morning, an hour-long powhiri was followed by the commissioners' meeting in the Environment Canterbury boardroom where most of the business was concluded with minimal discussion over 10 minutes.
The main business of the meeting was to appoint three commissioners to the regulation hearings committee that will appoint resource consent panels to hear notified applications.
The commissioners appointed were deputy chair David Caygill; Tom Lambie a dairy farmer, chancellor of Lincoln University, and chair of Opuha Dam; and Peter Skelton, former Environment Court judge and associate professor of resource management law at Lincoln University.
One item on the agenda was pulled on the advice of Mr Caygill. It involved the powers of delegated authority to water zone committees and suggested that the Environment Minister's legislation passed by Parliament last month under urgency required amendment.
The matter would be dealt with before the next meeting.
A final item about legal appeals to the proposed regional policy statement concerning an urban green belt took place behind closed doors over an hour before the meeting was adjourned.
Three former councillors oversaw proceedings from the public benches - Rik Tindall, Jane Demeter and Eugenie Sage.
Unlike recent meetings there was no gathering of protesters, although the kaiwhakahaere (chair) of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, Mark Solomon, said in his powhiri speech that he had been accosted about the "death of democracy" upon his arrival.
But he said the Ngai Tahu commissioner representative, Ben Couch, would ensure accountability of the organisation to the tribe.