Bay of Plenty Regional Council is planning to spend $45.5 million during the next eight years to change land use around four of Rotorua's lakes.

The proposal is aimed at improving the lakes' water quality, and is included in the Regional Council's draft Ten Year Plan 2012 - 2022, and is open for public submissions.

To ensure the community is better informed about this planned move, the Regional Council has released parts of the proposed Regional Policy Statement (RPS) relating to water quality and land use.

Councillor Neil Oppatt says the water quality and land use decisions were particularly important for the Rotorua community, given the work being undertaken on the lakes.

The $144 million Rotorua Lakes Protection and Restoration Action Programme partnership between the Regional Council, Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Rotorua District Council and the Ministry for the Environment focuses on four lakes – Rotorua, Rotoiti, ÅŒkāreka and Rotoehu.

Neil, who represents the Rotorua constituency, says all the Rotorua Lakes were a priority for restoring water quality.

'The decisions for water quality show the direction the Regional Council is taking for nutrient management in Rotorua lakes.

'It's important key stakeholders, iwi and agencies are able to consider in parallel the regulatory and non-regulatory approaches the Regional Council is taking under both the Resource Management Act 1991 (which drives the creation of the RPS) and Local Government Act 2002 (which drives the creation of the Ten Year Plan).”
Included in the RPS water quality and land use proposals are stronger references to the importance of soil as a resource, and that water quality is to be enhanced to meet the values associated with the water's use and protection.

Council's decisions require a reduction in the levels of nutrients entering the region's water bodies.

For Lake Rotorua, the RPS states no nitrogen losses into the lake in excess of sustainable limits are permitted beyond 2022, a three year extension, and land use change will be necessary.

Neil says all of these recent decisions consolidated a substantial amount of research and analysis that's been undertaken during the past few years.
'We encourage feedback through the Ten Year Plan, as we genuinely want to know what our community thinks about this proposal,” he says.

'We will continue to inform communities of future Council decisions and how these are implemented.”