Long-term Plan
Long-term Plan 2012-2022
Efforts to halt and reverse the continuing decline in water quality across the Southland region will get a significant boost in funds and staffing in the next three years. This focus on water quality is the foundation on which our ten-year Draft Long-term Plan is based and it reflects the widespread acceptance in Southland that the status quo is no longer good enough, and an understanding within the community that more must be done.
As the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment reported just last month, the links between intensive land use and deteriorating water quality are strong, obvious and undeniable. Jan Wright’s report endorses the conclusion of our own State of the Environment Report on freshwater in Southland, which found that the state of our lowland waterways was generally poor and getting worse because of intensified land use – principally dairy farming. And last year the independent investigation of the Office of the Auditor General concluded that Environment Southland was not acting effectively enough to address the deteriorating state of our rivers, streams and lakes. In short, the Waituna Lagoon is not the only Southland waterway under threat, it is just the one that has had most publicity.
So what are we proposing to do? Find out by downloading the documents below:
LTCCP 2009-19
Southland is enjoying the economic benefits of the region's dairy expansion while at the same time we are experiencing the environmental costs of intensified land use. Because the global financial outlook is grim, fiscal prudence is rightly expected of all public bodies, yet prudence does not automatically mean cuts in programmes or expenditure. Sometimes prudence dictates more activity, not less.
In debating the programmes and costs identified in this plan, please remember that the plan is just that - a proposal and not a commitment. Decisions for the coming year must be made in the light of current circumstances and with a sharp eye on the horizon. In Southland, these circumstances are still largely positive. If the regional situation does take a turn for the worse then Environment Southland will adapt to the prevailing conditions, to keep the balance between what the community expects us to achieve and what it can afford. To act pre-emptively as if the worst has happened when it has not and may not happen will only compromise the existing level of economic activity and further undermine the state of our natural environment.
Download the full plan below:
Amendment to the LTCCP 2009-19
Environment Southland has adopted an amendment to the Long-term Council Community Plan 2009-2019 to incorporate a response to the rapidly deteriorating water quality in the Waituna Lagoon.
Statutory consultation was undertaken with the Southland community and our ratepayers and submissions were invited. Council held a special meeting on 9 November 2011 to consider those submissions and adopt the amendment.
You can find more information about the amendment below.
Environment Southland is the brand name of Southland Regional Council.