Resource consent is granted to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council scheme to re-divert part of the Kaituna River back through the Maketu estuary.

The consent approved late last week by a panel of independent commissioners, comes with 40 pages of conditions designed to manage the project's potential environmental effects.

The plan is to re-open Ford's Cut. Photo: Supplied

The consent approves in principle the re-diversion of 20 percent of the Kaituna river flow back into the Maketu estuary, while maintaining existing flood protection levels and channel navigability at Te Tumu cut.

The project will return an average of 600,000 cubic metres of fresh water from the Kaituna River into Ongatoro/Maketu Estuary on every tidal cycle, and create at least 20 hectares of new wetlands.

The next task is to do a cost analysis on the consent conditions and check that the project is still affordable, says regional council Kaituna catchment manager Pim de Monchy.

'After that we'll respond to any appeals and start the process of detailed design and construction planning. If land acquisition processes go smoothly and there are no appeals, construction could start by September 2016,” says Pim.

A copy of the full consent decision, including conditions and the commissioner's report, is available on Regional Council's website at www.boprc.govt.nz/kaitunamaketurediversion.

The Kaituna River was diverted away from the estuary for flood protection and land drainage in the 1950s.

'The estuary has been gradually degrading ever since,” says regional council chairman Doug Leeder.

'Tangata whenua and the wider community have been asking for river flow to be returned since 1979. It's great that we've now found a way to make that happen.”

Dog says this is a big milestone for both the Maketu community and the environment – in what has been a long time coming.

'There are lots of interested parties. It's a complex project involving more than 100,000 cubic metres of earthworks in a sensitive environment, both ecologically and culturally. We need to make sure we get it right.”

Regional Council lodged its application for resource consent and associated land designations in July 2014. Funding for the project has been budgeted for in the Bay of Plenty Regional Council 2015-25 Long Term Plan which was adopted last week.

A public meeting will be held at Maketu this month to discuss the decision and what it means for the project.