The Government has passed new legislation to assist with the recovery and improve resilience for areas affected by severe weather events. It came into force on 21 March 2023. The Act removes red tape that may hinder recovery by making amendments to legislation to ease some compliance requirements for councils, businesses and people affected by the recent events.
The Act applies to the regions of Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay and the districts of Tararua, Masterton, Carterton, and South Wairarapa affected by the severe weather events of Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle, as well as the heavy rainfall on 26 January-3 February in Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
The changes of most relevance to members are:
Consent requirements for preventative or remedial activities
Rural Landowners and Occupiers
Changes to the RMA include targeted help for rural landowners and occupiers to undertake preventative or remedial activities to mitigate loss, injury or damage, in response to the severe weather, without the need for a resource consent (or retrospective consent).
These provisions will assist members to undertake works that need to be done to clear silt and other debris, create the conditions for restored access etc without having to worry about consents and delays.
Such preventative or remedial works are deemed to be permitted under the RMA, meaning a resource consent or subsequent retrospective consent would not be required. However, some exceptions apply:
- if the activity is classified as a prohibited activity in district or regional planning rules, national environmental standards or regulations, it remains prohibited.
- if the activity is in the coastal marine area.
In addition, if the land is culturally significant, or the measure will impact culturally significant land, the rural landowner must give notice and obtain written permission from the relevant iwi or hapū before undertaking measures.
Rural landowners or occupiers that utilize these provisions to undertake works must:
- consider the measures to be proportionate in the circumstances;
- as far as reasonably practicable avoid, remedy or mitigate any adverse environmental effects;
- not cause significant adverse effects beyond the boundaries of the owner or occupier’s rural land; and
- give notice to the local authority within 60 working days of undertaking the activity. If written notice is not provided to the council, the activity loses its ‘permitted’ status and you could face enforcement action.
These provisions will remain in place until 1 April 2024. After this date, resource consents will once again be required for activities that breach planning rules.
Food Act 2014 and Food Regulations 2015
The Act amends the Food Act 2014 and the Food Regulations 2015 to allow an extended period for affected food businesses to renew their registration of a food control plan or a national programme and to continue operating during the time registration may have expired. In particular:
- affected businesses are able to operate without renewal of their registration until 16 May 2023. After this date, businesses are able to continue to operate until they are notified whether their registration has been renewed, if the renewal fee was paid before the end of the period.
- changes to the Food Regulations enable affected businesses to continue to operate when they do not satisfy verification requirements and are due to comply with food control plans between 8 January 2023 and 16 May 2023. It also provides an exemption from the National Programme for businesses due to comply from 8 January to 16 August 2023. These provisions expire on 21 March 2024.
Note: these changes do not impact any registration requirements for your WSMP under the Wine Act.
Please contact the Advocacy Team at advocacy@nzwine.com if you have any questions.