Significance Policy

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The Local Government Act 2002 requires a policy on significance. It also prescribes a framework for decision making which is procedurally complex but allows discretion for the Council to judge how it will achieve compliance monitoring according to it being "largely in proportion to the significance of the matters affected by the decision".

Significance is a term which is most often used in a relative sense. To be measurable, it needs to be used within a context so that a scale can be obtained.

A policy on significance is not one which is described easily by dollar amounts, percentages, numbers affected etc without a context e.g. the acceptable effluent application rate for dairy farmers is not fixed for all farms but varies according to soil type on the property.

The general approach will be to propose significant decisions in the context of the Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) which is the document that sets out Environment Southland's priorities over the medium to long term. It sets out how it is intended to contribute to community well-being over the life of the plan. The LTCCP must be adopted by the special consultative procedure before the beginning of the year to which it relates, meet the criteria for information set out in the Act, and be accompanied by a report from Environment Southland's auditor.

Where circumstances prevail in which the Council opts to propose significant decisions at a time other than when it is adopting an LTCCP, Environment Southland will identify and assess options and develop proposals applying the decision making requirements of the Act and will consult with the community using the special consultative procedure prescribed by the Act.

Decisions which are administrative, managerial or relate to approvals under existing Council policy will not be of a level of significance requiring application of the full range of decision making processes of the Act.