Significant Natural Areas policy still under development

JULIA WADE

With Far North District Council (FNDC) recently consulting on Significant Natural Areas (SNA) resulting in some residents being wary and not too pleased about the perceived outcome, Kaipara landowners and farmers will have to wait until next year to see the effects of the environmental policy.

Unveiled in late 2019, the Central Government SNA plan aims to enhance protection of New Zealand’s native species. Although currently there is no official national policy statement for SNAs, regional councils are required to direct local councils to identify their region’s natural ecosystems in their District Plans.

As part of Northland Regional Council’s ‘Regional Policy Statement for Northland 2016’, Kaipara, Whangarei and Far North councils collaborated in 2020, to identify and map out SNAs in their respective districts, resulting in an increased knowledge and more accurate representation of the natural areas.

Conducted by Wildlands Consultants Ltd, approximately 19 per cent of Kaipara has been ascertained as being covered by SNAs and equally split 50/50 between private and public land, with the vast majority of identified land parcels containing less than 50 per cent SNA coverage.

Kaipara District Council (KDC) is currently reviewing its Operative District Plan that contains the SNA mapping along with policies and rules, which are still to be developed, with the intention of notifying the new proposed District Plan in late 2022.

While some landowners around the country, in particular the Far North, have been reportedly concerned about what the SNAs may mean to their freedom of choice regarding their land, KDC mayor Dr Jason Smith says if land is identified as an SNA, it does not change how people can or cannot currently use their property.

“Before the new plan is notified, we will be engaging with SNA landowners, iwi, and the general public to develop the policies and rules for managing activities on SNA land,” he says. “Council is planning on commencing this consultation towards the end of this year and any new provisions won’t ‘kick in’ until the new District Plan is publicly notified.”