Strong environmental compliance amid challenging year
Environmental compliance was strong across Murihiku Southland during 2025-26, with high levels of compliance even though it was a challenging year for many sectors.
The findings are outlined in Environment Southland's 2025-26 Compliance Monitoring Report, which was approved by councillors last week. The report provides an overview of Environment Southland's compliance, consent monitoring and enforcement activities across the region.
With a fully staffed team and improved efficiencies, Environment Southland was better placed this year to meet consent monitoring requirements, leading to an increase in inspections and contributing to the strong compliance results.
Environment Southland Chair Jeremy McPhail said this work was a reflection of what could be achieved with a fully resourced team, efficiency gains and a risk-based approach to monitoring.
"Our focus is on supporting work that delivers the greatest benefit for the environment and the communities that depend on it."
In 2025-26, the council completed 1393 on-site dairy discharge consent inspections, with 87% of inspections found to be either fully compliant or low-risk non-compliance, on par with last year’s 88%.
By aligning land-use consent inspections with existing dairy discharge inspections, 554 land-use consent inspections were carried out in 2025-26. Of those, 509 (or 92%) were fully compliant or low-risk non-compliant.
There were 114 feed pad inspections undertaken, with most inspections fully compliant or identifying only minor issues. These visits also provided opportunities for staff to offer guidance, education, and practical assistance to consent holders.
"It’s been a pretty tough year for Southland farmers, so to see these results demonstrates the commitment of the rural sector to do the right thing. It tells me that farmers are putting in the work to manage environmental risks and are continuing to improve their practices," Chair McPhail said.
Across 18 major industrial operators, local authorities and water abstraction consent holders, 83% had no confirmed complaints or self-reported incidents during the year, while the majority were fully compliant or assessed as low-risk non-compliant. Industry inspections include mining, manufacturing, meat processors, milk processors and electricity generators.
"It’s great to see industry operators taking their environmental responsibilities seriously and continuing to make improvements.” Chair McPhail said.
While most consent holders were meeting expectations, the report also highlighted areas where further improvements were needed.
During 2025-26, Environment Southland successfully led a prosecution that resulted in a conviction, and laid charges against two parties for separate incidents. These proceedings are ongoing.
Over the same period, 13 infringement notices were issued, compared to 20 the previous year. There were 34 abatement notices issued during the year compared to 27 last year.
The full report is available on the Environment Southland website: www.es.govt.nz/environment/compliance/compliance-monitoring-reports
