Minutes of a meeting of the Environment Committee

Held in the Council Chamber, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson

On Thursday 22 October 2020, commencing at 11.31a.m.

 

Present:               Councillor K Fulton (Chairperson), Her Worship the Mayor R Reese, B McGurk (Deputy Chairperson), Councillors Y Bowater, T Brand, M Courtney, J Edgar, M Lawrey, G Noonan, R O'Neill-Stevens, P Rainey, R Sanson, T Skinner and Ms G Paine

In Attendance:     Group Manager Environmental Management (C Barton), Governance Adviser (E-J Ruthven), and Governance Support (K McLean and P Boutle)

Apologies :           Nil

 

 

Karakia Timatanga

 

A karakia timatanga was given.

 

1.       Apologies

There were no apologies.

2.       Confirmation of Order of Business

There were no changes to the order of business.

3.       Interests

There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.

4.       Public Forum 

There was no public forum.

5.       Confirmation of Minutes

5.1       3 September 2020

Document number M14084, agenda pages 5 - 8 refer.

Resolved EC/2020/035

 

That the Environment Committee

1.     Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Environment Committee, held on 3 September 2020, as a true and correct record.

Skinner/Bowater                                                                               Carried

6.       Chairperson's Report

Document number R21387, agenda pages 9 - 14 refer.

Councillor Fulton spoke to the Chairperson’s Report.

Along with Group Manager Environmental Management, she answered questions regarding:

·        Communications relating to the Nelson Plan, what it covers, and how it is differentiated from the Long Term Plan 2021-2031;

·        The list of actions Council is undertaking regarding mitigation and adaptation for climate change;

·        Off-setting the costs of building houses in a sustainable manner, by encouraging smaller builds;

·        Supporting the transition to more efficient woodburners; and

·        The effect of covenants on housing affordability.

Resolved EC/2020/036

 

That the Environment Committee

1.     Receives the report Chairperson's Report (R21387) and its attachment (A2482749); and

2.     Approves the submission to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment regarding Building for Climate Change.

Fulton/Edgar                                                                                     Carried

  

7.       Compliance Strategy 2020

Document number R19200, agenda pages 15 - 37 refer.

Manager Consents and Compliance, Mandy Bishop, presented the report.  She answered questions regarding:

·        levels of compliance for different activities;

·        whether the Strategy increased Council’s ability to manage compliance;

·        Costs involved in investigating and prosecuting matters;

·        The divide between officer delegations to undertake compliance actions, and elected member oversight of the Strategy itself;

·        The balance between engagement and education actions, and taking enforcement actions;

·        The ‘engage, educate, enable’ model, and whether further actions were required to cover all activities and participants

It was suggested that appropriate levels of service could be included in the Environmental Management Activity Management Plan to ensure a mechanism for reporting to the Committee as to efficacy of the Strategy.

Attendance:  Councillor Lawrey left the meeting at 12.14p.m. 

Resolved EC/2020/037

 

That the Environment Committee

1.     Receives the report Compliance Strategy 2020 (R19200) and its attachment (A2275547); and

2.     Adopts the Compliance Strategy 2020 (A2275547) effective from 1 November 2020.

Skinner/Paine                                                                                   Carried

8.       Draft Environmental Management Activity Management Plan 2021-2031

Document number R21388, agenda pages 38 - 90 refer.

Attendance:  Councillor Noonan left the meeting at 12.16p.m,  and Councillor Lawrey returned to the meeting at 12.18p.m.

Group Manager Environmental Management, Clare Barton, presented the report, and explained that levels of service would be prepared for a later meeting, noting that these needed to be measurable and effective. 

Manager Science and Environment, Jo Martin, tabled a document and explained the potential financial impact of the National Policy Statement on Freshwater (A2503518).

Ms Barton and Ms Martin answered questions regarding the potential for collaboration between Te Tau Ihu Councils and Iwi for achieving the goals of the National Policy Statement on Freshwater, and the potential financial impacts for Councils.

The meeting was adjourned from 12.34p.m. to 1.07p.m, during which time Councillor Skinner left the meeting. 

Ms Barton and Ms Martin answered further questions regarding:

·        Costs and activities involved with high-level ‘state of the environment’ monitoring;

·        The differences between undertaking monitoring activities, to understand what is happening, and understanding causation factors;

·        The potential for collaboration between Councils in relation to capital spend, such as for monitoring equipment.

Attendance:  Councillor Skinner returned to the meeting at 1.21p.m.

Ms Barton answered further questions regarding how Council’s city development aspirations and climate change goals were captured in the draft Activity Management Plan.  It was agreed that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” should be added to the Plan.

Attendance:  Councillor Bowater left the meeting at 1.31p.m.

Resolved EC/2020/038

 

That the Environment Committee:

1.     Receives the report Draft Environmental Management Activity Management Plan 2021-2031 (R21388) and its attachment (A2480683); and

2.     Approves the Draft Environmental Management Activity Management Plan 2021-2031 (A2480683) as the version to inform the Long Term Plan 2021-31; and

3.     Notes that the Draft Environmental Management Activity Management Plan 2021-2031 (A2480683) will be updated and, the final Activity Management Plan approved, after the adoption of the Long Term Plan 2021-2031.

Edgar/Brand                                                                                     Carried

Attachments

1    A2503518 - tabled document

       

Karakia Whakamutunga

 

A karakia whakamutunga was given.

 

There being no further business the meeting ended at 1.42p.m.

 

 

 

                                                         Chairperson                                    Date