The chunky 70-page Federated Farmers of New Zealand submission picks away at the wording of the proposed rural zone chapter of the Queenstown Lakes District Council's district plan.
Prepared by senior policy adviser David Cooper, it analyses the rules word-by-word, suggesting parts be rewritten, single words be changed and chunks crossed out.
For instance, where the proposed plan calls for the protection of the natural character of outstanding natural landscapes ... "from subdivision, use and development'', Federated Farmers would like to see the word "inappropriate'' added before the word development.
Deciding what such an apparently small change might mean in the end is the job of the four commissioners - Denis Nugent (chairman), Mark St Clair, Brad Coombs and Ella Lawton.
The reason for Mr Cooper's minute inspection of the proposed plan becomes clear on reading his note about the 2014 Supreme Court decision on New Zealand King Salmon.
"A key message ensuing from this decision was the importance of the choice of words in higher level planning statements,'' Mr Cooper said.
In that case the all-important word was "avoid''.
He urged the council to review its use of that word - and also "prevent'' and "require''.
While most of Federated Farmers' submission was about such details, it also had some broad concerns.
Farmers, it said, wanted more certainty about what the plan meant, they were not happy with having more compliance "hoops'' to jump through and they believed consents cost too much.
However, Federated Farmers is happy the plan recognises there is a "finite capacity'' for residential activity in rural areas.
