Fresh water and land advisory groups (FLAGs)

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The advisory groups help prepare and recommend draft planning provisions for fresh water and land.

The aim is to include policy and rules in the Tasman Resource Management Plan.

About the groups and the processes involved

About the partnership groups

The Council has set up Freshwater and Land Advisory Groups (FLAG) for the Waimea Plains and Takaka Catchments. This will enable greater involvement by the community and stakeholders in developing the water quantity and quality management provisions for water resources in these areas.

The purpose of the groups will be to consider the existing and potential future water quantity and/or quality challenges in the water management areas and develop solutions for managing water allocation and the water quality effects of land use activities. The advisory groups will prepare and recommend to Council draft planning provisions including policy and rules in the Tasman Resource Management Plan.

Freshwater and Land Advisory Group process

The process for the FLAG groups is outlined below.

Milestone / Task	Description
Milestone 1	Nominations for FLAG membership are called and members are selected by Council.
FLAG Task 1	Understanding the local water resources. What state are our water resources in? How are they currently used? What are the threats and opportunities?
FLAG Task 2	How do we want our water resources to be? Identifying the local values and uses of water and the objectives for future water management.
Milestone 2	Uses, values and management objectives agreed.
FLAG Task 3	How are we going to achieve our objectives? Identifying the methods of management including limits on water uses and land management.
Milestone 3	Management methods tested and agreed.
FLAG Task 4	Drafting the Plan change and identifying funding needs.
Milestone 4	Draft Plan change reported to Council for adoption.

Once Council has agreed to notify the Plan change, the formal process in Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act is followed.

Resource Management Act process

The Plan change is publically notified.
Public invited to make submissions on the proposed Plan change, and further submissions on the submissions of others.
Council holds a hearing of submissions, and makes a decision on the Plan change. If there are no appeals, the Plan change becomes operative.
If submitters don’t like the Council’s decision regarding their submission, they can appeal, and a Court process occurs to resolve the appeals.
The Court makes a decision on the plan change, and the Plan change becomes operative.

Takaka Fresh Water and Land advisory group

The Freshwater and Land Advisory Group (FLAG) for the Takaka Catchments exists to help us develop ways to manage fresh water resources and meet the obligations of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.