Agenda of Council Meeting - 18 September 2018

Council Meeting ITEM: 4.1

18 September 2018Attachment 2

Northland Regional Council Minutes

Meeting held in the Council Chamber

36 Water Street, Whangārei

on Tuesday 21 August 2018, commencing at 10.30am

Present:

Deputy Chairman, David Sinclair

Councillors:

John Bain

Justin Blaikie

Paul Dimery

Mike Finlayson (left meeting 11.40 – 11.45am)

Penny Smart

Rick Stolwerk

Joce Yeoman

In Attendance:

Full Meeting

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

GM - Governance and Engagement

GM - Regulatory Services

Governance Support Manager

Part Meeting

Te Roroa Science Advisor

Northland Inc. Limited Chief Executive Officer

Northland Inc. Director/Independent Financial Advisor

Chief Executive Officer

GM – Corporate Excellence

GM – Customer Service/Community Resilience

Communications Manager

Biosecurity Manager

Biosecurity Manager – Marine and Strategy

Biosecurity Manager – Partnerships and Strategy

Finance Manager

Customer Services Manager

Compliance Monitoring Manager

Land Manager

Information Services and Technology Manager

Strategic Projects Manager

Financial Accountant

Economist

Communications Officer

Property Officer

Policy Analyst

The Chair declared the meeting open at 10.32am.

Apologies (Item 1.0)

Moved (Dimery/Bain)

That the apologies from Chairman Shepherd for non-attendance and from the Chief Executive Officer for a temporary leave of absence be received.

Carried

Declarations of Conflicts of Interest (Item 2.0)

It was advised that councillors should make declarations item-by-item as the meeting progressed.

3. Receipt of Supplementary Item for Council Meeting – 21 August 2018

4. (Item 2.0A)

ID: A1099194

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Stolwerk/Smart)

That as permitted under section 46A(7) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 the following supplementary report be received:

· ITEM 7.7: Representation Review 2018 Final Proposal

Carried

5. Presentations (Item 3.0)

ID: A1094908

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Te Roroa Science Advisor, Taoho Patuawa, was in attendance and provided the presentation ‘Tāne Mahuta Kauri Dieback Response Plan’. It was stressed that the Response Plan was currently in draft and confidential form subject to agreement of details from major contributing partners. Key points of the presentation included:

· Context for the Response Plan;

· Response Plan Actions – immediate and short term;

· Response Plan workstreams and projects;

· Waipoua Forest Kauri Dieback management options;

· Stand alone project – organisational structure; and

· Te Roroa links with current research projects.

Secretarial Note: The Chief Executive Officer left the meeting at 10.59am, therefore the introduction of the new executive team was withdrawn.

6. Health and Safety Report (Item 4.0)

ID: A1094593

Report from Tracey Warboys, Health and Safety Specialist

Moved (Stolwerk/Yeoman)

That the report ‘Health and Safety Report’ by Tracey Warboys, Health and Safety Specialist and dated 6 August 2018, be received.

Carried

7. Confirmation of Minutes - 16 May 2018, 10 July 2018, and 24 July 2018 (Item 5.1)

ID: A1091048

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Stolwerk/Smart)

That the minutes of the Long Term Plan deliberations meeting held on 16 May 2018, the extraordinary council meeting held on 10 July 2018, and the council meeting held on 24 July 2018, be confirmed as a true and correct record.

Carried

8. Receipt of Action Sheet (Item 5.2)

ID: A1095594

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Bain/Dimery)

That the action sheet be received.

Carried

9. Council Working Party Updates and Chairpersons' Briefings (Item 5.3)

ID: A1086407

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Blaikie/Smart)

That the report ‘Council Working Party Updates and Chairpersons' Briefings’ be received.

Carried

10. Council Working Group Updates (Item 5.4)

ID: A1092341

Report from Nola Sooner, Land and Rivers Team Administrator/PA

Moved (Bain/Yeoman)

That the report ‘Council Working Group Updates’ be received.

Carried

11. Request for Approval to Carry Forward Operational Budget from the 2017/18 Financial Year into the 2018/19 Financial Year (Item 6.1)

ID: A1094558

Report from Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant and Simon Crabb, Finance Manager

Moved (Smart/Stolwerk)

1. That the report ‘Request for Approval to Carry Forward Operational Budget from the 2017/18 Financial Year into the 2018/19 Financial Year’ by Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant and Simon Crabb, Finance Manager and dated 8 August 2018, be received.

2. That council approves the operational expenditure carry forwards from the 2017/18 financial year into the 2018/19 financial year of:

a. $50,000 for Regional plan hearings; and

b. $6,382 for removal of the Stanaway marine vessel

c. $7,587 for the Ecosystem prioritisation project.

3. That council notes $66,146 of unspent operational budget, approved under Schedule 3 of the Delegations Manual in 2017/18, has been carried forward into the 2018/19 financial year to fund:

a. $37,756 for the Flyger Road nursery expansion; and

b. $28,390 for the Tutukaka beacon replacement project.

Carried

12. Request for Approval to Carry Forward Capital Expenditure Budget from the 2017/18 Financial Year into the 2018/19 Financial Year (Item 6.2)

ID: A1093840

Report from Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant and Simon Crabb, Finance Manager

Moved (Bain/Dimery)

1. That the report ‘Request for Approval to Carry Forward Capital Expenditure Budget from the 2017/18 Financial Year into the 2018/19 Financial Year’ by Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant and Simon Crabb, Finance Manager and dated 3 August 2018, be received.

2. That council approves the carry forward of $605,605 general capital expenditure budget from the 2017/18 financial year into the 2018/19 financial year, noting that $66,146 will be funded from unspent 2017/18 operational budgets.

Carried

13. Special Reserves at 30 June 2018 (Item 6.3)

ID: A1095483

Report from Simon Crabb, Finance Manager and Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant

Moved (Finlayson/Bain)

That the report ‘Special Reserves at 30 June 2018’ by Simon Crabb, Finance Manager and Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant and dated 8 August 2018, be received.

Carried

14. Regional Rates Collection for 2017/18 (Item 6.4)

ID: A1094292

Report from Simon Crabb, Finance Manager

Moved (Stolwerk/Dimery)

That the report ‘Regional Rates Collection for 2017/18’ by Simon Crabb, Finance Manager and dated 6 August 2018, be received.

Carried

15. Reinvestment of Gains Earned on Council's Externally Managed Funds

16. (Item 6.5)

ID: A1093948

Report from Simon Crabb, Finance Manager

Moved (Smart/Blaikie)

1. That the report ‘Reinvestment of Gains Earned on Council's Externally Managed Funds’ by Simon Crabb, Finance Manager and dated 3 August 2018, be received.

2. That $1,158,124 of Community Investment Fund gains earned in 2017/18 is reinvested into the Community Investment Fund.

3. That $453,130 of Property Reinvestment Fund gains earned in 2017/18 is reinvested into the Property Reinvestment Fund.

4. That $272,826 of the Infrastructure Investment Fund gains earned in 2017/18 is reinvested into the Infrastructure Investment Fund, and that $106,614 of net depreciation funding and $1,068,841 of accumulated debt repayment funding are transferred into the Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Carried

Secretarial Note: NINC director/Independent Financial Advisor, Geoff Copstick, left the table prior to Item 7.1.

17. Investment and Growth Reserve: Changes to the Criteria and Procedures for the Allocation of Funding (Item 7.1)

ID: A1084450

Report from Darryl Jones, Economist

Moved (Stolwerk/Bain)

1. That the report ‘Investment and Growth Reserve: Changes to the Criteria and Procedures for the Allocation of Funding’ by Darryl Jones, Economist and dated 9 August 2018, be received.

2. That council approve the new criteria and procedures for the allocation of funding from the Investment and Growth Reserve contained in Attachment 2 pertaining to Item 7.1 of the 21 August 2018 council agenda.

3. That the changes to the Investment and Growth Reserve criteria and the procedures for the allocation of funding be further discussed at the Northland Inc. Limited workshop on 12 September 2018.

Carried

Councillor Smart voted against the motion

18. Te Taitokerau Māori and Council Working Party (TTMAC) - Proposed Amendment to Ngā Kupu Pānga | Terms of Reference (Item 7.2)

ID: A1097831

Report from Rachel Ropiha, Kaiarahi - Kaupapa Māori

Moved (Dimery/Blaikie)

1. That the report ‘Te Taitokerau Māori and Council Working Party (TTMAC) - Proposed Amendment to Ngā Kupu Pānga | Terms of Reference ’ by Rachel Ropiha, Kaiarahi - Kaupapa Māori and dated 13 August 2018, be received.

2. That council supports the Te Taitokerau Māori and Council Working Party (TTMAC) - Proposed Amendment to Ngā Kupu Pānga | Terms of Reference.

Carried

19. Amendment to Delegations (Item 7.3)

ID: A1092309

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Smart/Blaikie)

1. That the report ‘Amendment to Delegations’ by Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager and dated 30 July 2018, be received.

2. That the ‘Miscellaneous Delegation’ section of the Northland Regional Council Delegations Manual be amended as follows:

3. That council retrospectively approve the submission (included as Attachment 1 pertaining to Item 7.3 of the 21 August 2018 council agenda) on the draft National Planning Standards issued by the Ministry for the Environment.

Carried

20. Amendment to Elected Members' Expenses and Allowances Policy (Item 7.4)

ID: A1093600

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Smart/Bain)

1. That the report ‘Amendment to Elected Members' Expenses and Allowances Policy’ by Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager and dated 2 August 2018, be received.

2. That council notes the revised Elected Members’ Expenses and Allowances Policy (included as Attachment 1 pertaining to Item 7.4 of the 21 August 2018 council agenda).

Carried

21. Environment Fund Overallocation (Item 7.5)

ID: A1093651

Report from Duncan Kervell, Land Manager

Moved (Stolwerk/Blaikie)

1. That the report ‘Environment Fund Overallocation’ by Duncan Kervell, Land Manager and dated 2 August 2018, be received.

2. That for 2018/19 council approves an overallocation of the Land/Biodiversity component of the Environment Fund budget ($1.032M) by up to 20% ($207K).

3. That council delegates authority to the Farm Plan Manager to co-approve Environment Fund applications of up to $20K in conjunction with the NRC Chairman’s (or nominated replacement) co-approval of projects.

Carried

22. Inter-regional Marine Pest Pathway Plan – Discussion Document (Item 7.6)

ID: A1094333

Report from Don McKenzie, Biosecurity Manager

Moved (Finlayson/Stolwerk)

1. That the report ‘Inter-regional Marine Pest Pathway Plan – Discussion Document’ by Don McKenzie, Biosecurity Manager and dated 6 August 2018, be received.

2. That council approves the development of a draft discussion document outlining the threat of marine pests and potential responses and associated supporting information.

3. That the draft discussion document, supporting information and outline of the consultation programme be brought to council for consideration and approval prior to being released for feedback.

4. That council approves engagement of the Māori Technical Advisory Group to assist staff with the development of the discussion document and associated consultation programme.

Carried

23. Representation Review 2018 Final Proposal (Item 7.7)

ID: A1092406

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Dimery/Stolwerk)

1. That the report ‘Representation Review 2018 Final Proposal’ by Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager and dated 14 August 2018, be received.

2. That pursuant to section 19N(1)(a) of the Local Electoral Act 2001, the Northland Regional Council resolves that, after the consideration of all submissions received, the Initial Representation Arrangements Proposal of 21 June 2018 be adopted as the Northland Regional Council’s Final Representation Arrangements Proposal as follows:

a) That the Northland Regional Council be divided into seven (7) constituencies (as shown in Appendix One).

b) That the names and descriptions of the seven (7) constituencies be as follows:

i. Te Hiku Constituency – Comprising the area that extends on the west coast from near the northern side of the Whāngāpē Harbour northwards to Cape Rēinga. On the east coast it includes the Karikari Peninsula and south to Taipā, Mangonui Harbour, Hihi and Taemaro. Moving inland it includes the settlements of Oruaiti, Kenana, Fern Flat, Mangataiore, and Takahue. The proposed constituency includes the towns of Kaitāia, Ahipara, Awanui and Mangonui (as shown in Appendix Two).

ii. Hokianga-Kaikohe Constituency – Comprising the area whose south-west boundary matches the Far North District Council boundary at Waipoua Forest and extends north to include all of the Hokianga and Whāngāpē Harbours. Extending eastwards, the constituency includes Mangamuka, Rangiahua, Waihou Valley, Ōkaihau and Oromahoe. Extending southwards, the settlements of Pakaraka, Matawaia, Kaikou, Pipiwai, Moengawahine and Opouteke are included. The towns of Opononi and Kaikohe are situated in this constituency (as shown in Appendix Two).

iii. Coastal North Constituency – Comprising the area that begins south of Doubtless Bay and extends south along the east coast to include the coastal settlements at Taupo Bay through to Matauri Bay, Takou Bay and Taronui Bay. It includes the town of Kerikeri and all of the Bay of Islands including Paihia, Ōpua and Russell. Continuing down the east coast, it includes the coastal settlements of Oakura, Helena Bay down to Whananaki South. To the west it includes Marua and Hikurangi. Further south around the western side of Whangārei it includes Gumtown, Maungatapere, Wharekohe, Poroti and Kokopu. Northwards from there it includes Matarau and Purua and northwards to include Motatau, Otiria, Waimate North, Mangapa, Otangaroa and Akatere. The towns of Moerewa and Kawakawa are also included in this constituency (as shown in Appendix Two).

iv. Whangārei Urban Constituency – Comprising the area that includes the northern Whangārei suburbs of Kamō, Whau Valley, Tikipunga and Otangarei. It extends through Kensington to Riverside and westwards to Woodhill through to Maunu ending before Barge Park. The southern border of this constituency is just north of Toetoe Road and it also includes the area known as Port Whangārei (as shown in Appendix Two).

v. Coastal Central Constituency – Comprising the area north of the Whangārei Urban constituency, east to Glenbervie and further south adjacent to Riverside and extending to Onerahi. The boundary then follows the northern side of Whangārei Harbour out to the east coast. It includes Ocean Beach, and extends north to include Pataua, and the Tutukaka Coast settlements of Ngunguru, Tutukaka, Matapouri, Woolleys Bay and Sandy Bay (as shown in Appendix Two).

vi. Coastal South Constituency – Comprising the area that includes the southern fringes of Whangārei from Toetoe extending westwards to the Otaika Valley, Otuhi, Tangihua and Maungakaramea. It extends south to include the settlements of Waipū, Brynderwyn and Kaiwaka before extending eastwards to just south of Mangawhai Heads. This constituency also includes the towns of Mangawhai, Kaiwaka and Ruakākā (as shown in Appendix Two).

vii. Kaipara Constituency – Comprising the area that includes Poutō Peninsula and the northern area of the Kaipara Harbour and extends northwards to meet the Far North District Council boundary at Waipoua Forest. It extends eastwards to include Waimatenui, Kaihu, Titoki and southwards to include the settlements of Waiotama, Omana, Parahaka and south to Maungaturoto. This constituency also includes the towns of Ruāwai and Dargaville (as shown in Appendix Two).

c) That the council comprise nine (9) councillors – the constituencies, number of councillors per constituency, the constituency populations (estimated at June 2017) and the population ration per councillor is as follows:

Constituency	2017 population estimate *	Number of councillors	Population per councillor **	Fits +/- 10% rule
Te Hiku	19,860	1	19,860	Yes (+1.86%)
Hokianga-Kaikohe***	16,120	1	16,120	No (-17.32%)
Coastal North	42,160	2	21,080	Yes (+8.12%)
Whangārei Urban	41,440	2	20,720	Yes (+6.27%)
Coastal Central	20,070	1	20,070	Yes (+2.94%)
Coastal South	17,760	1	17,760	Yes (-8.91%)
Kaipara	18,060	1	18,060	Yes (-7.37%)
	175,470	9

* Based on Stats NZ population estimates only as at 30 June 2017.

** In accordance with section 19V(2) of the Local Electoral Act 2001, the population that each councillor represents must be within the population range of 19,497 plus or minus 10% (17,547 to 21,446).

***For the Hokianga-Kaikohe Constituency the population that the councillor represents falls outside of the range and therefore does not comply with section 19V(2) of the Local Electoral Act 2001. Accordingly, under legislation, this must be treated as if it were an appeal and forwarded to the Local Government Commission for determination.

3. That pursuant to section 19N(1)(a) of the Local Electoral Act 2001, the Northland Regional Council resolves that, after the consideration of all submissions, the following recommendations be confirmed:

i. Include the Oneriri Peninsula in the Coastal South constituency: the submission of Wendy Howard is not supported. The reasons for not supporting this submission are that it results in non-compliance of the fair representation criteria (+/- 10% rule), it fails to ‘future proof’ the Coastal South constituency (which has experienced the largest growth rates in the region) and it fails to acknowledge the link the Oneriri Peninsula has with the Kaipara Harbour.

ii. Transfer Mangawhai and Kaiwaka into the Kaipara constituency: the submissions of Margaret Hicks and Joe Carr are not supported. The reasons for not supporting these submissions are that they result in significant non-compliance of the fair representation criteria and it would be inconsistent with identified regional communities of interest.

iii. That the status quo be retained: the submission of Joe Carr is not supported. The reasons for not supporting this submission are that it does not comply with the fair representation criteria and misses an opportunity to refine the representation arrangements for Northland.

iv. That constituencies align with tribal areas of Te Tai Tokerau: the submission of Ms Merehora Taurua is not supported. The reasons for not supporting this submission is that the issue of Māori constituencies has already been considered (24 October 2017) as one of the first statutory steps required in the Representation Review and further consideration would result in council not meeting the statutory timeframes of the Local Electoral Act 2001.

v. General support for the Initial Proposal: the submission of Federated Farmers (Richard Gardner) is supported. The reason for supporting this submission is that it endorsed the ‘fine tuning’ of representation arrangements in Northland.

4. That the Chief Executive Officer be authorised to make any editorial changes arising from the adoption of this proposal.

Carried

24. Northland Walking and Cycling Strategy (Item 7.8)

ID: A1096093

Report from Darryl Jones, Economist and Jon Trewin, Policy Analyst

Moved (Stolwerk/Blaikie)

1. That the report ‘Northland Walking and Cycling Strategy’ by Darryl Jones, Economist, and Jon Trewin, Policy Analyst and dated 8 August 2018, be received.

2. That council adopts the final version of the Northland Walking and Cycling Strategy 2018 as set out in Attachment 1 pertaining to Item 7.8 of the 21 August 2018 council agenda.

Carried

25. Treatment of Whangārei Harbour Board Land (Item 7.9)

ID: A1093537

Report from Alicia Jurisich, Property Officer

Moved (Bain/Smart)

1. That the report ‘Treatment of Whangārei Harbour Board Land’ by Alicia Jurisich, Property Officer and dated 2 August 2018, be received.

2. That the Chief Executive Officer have delegated authority to advise the Whangārei District Council of the following:

a. That full council approve the subject land being, Lot 3 DP 27781 and Lots 46 and 64 DP 18256 of NA978/260 and NA603/162, be vested in the Whangārei District Council;

b. That Whangārei District Council cover all of council’s legal as well as any other related costs to the transfer; and

c. That a discussion be held with Whangārei District Council’s Chief Executive Officer to negotiate an appropriate level of benefit to council.

Carried

26. Biosecurity Operational Plan 2017-2027 - Sustained Control Diseases (Kauri Dieback) Update (Item 7.10)

ID: A1098442

Report from Don McKenzie, Biosecurity Manager

Moved (Stolwerk/Smart)

1. That the report ‘Biosecurity Operational Plan 2017-2027 - Sustained Control Diseases (Kauri Dieback) Update ’ by Don McKenzie, Biosecurity Manager and dated 14 August 2018, be received.

2. That council approve the Biosecurity Operational Plan 2017-2027 – Sustained Control Diseases (Kauri Dieback).

Carried

27. Chair's Report to Council (Item 8.1)

ID: A1093067

Report from Bill Shepherd, Chairman

Moved (Sinclair/Yeoman)

That the report ‘Chair's Report to Council’ by Bill Shepherd, Chairman and dated 8 August 2018, be received.

Carried

28. Chief Executive’s Report to Council (Item 8.2)

ID: A1092549

Report from Malcolm Nicolson, Chief Executive Officer

Moved (Stolwerk/Yeoman)

That the report ‘Chief Executive’s Report to Council’ by Malcolm Nicolson, Chief Executive Officer and dated 21 August 2018, be received.

Carried

Secretarial Note:

· Congratulations were extended to the newly appointed Deputy Chief Executive and Deputy Group Managers.

· The Chief Executive returned at 12.44pm.

29. Receipt of Committee Minutes (Item 9.0)

ID: A1091672

Report from Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Moved (Stolwerk/Finlayson)

That the unconfirmed minutes of the:

· Investment Subcommittee – 31 July 2018.

be received.

Carried

Business with Public Excluded (Item 10.0)

Moved (Dimery/Bain)

1. That the public be excluded from the proceedings of this meeting to consider confidential matters.

2. That the general subject of the matters to be considered whilst the public is excluded, the reasons for passing this resolution in relation to this matter, and the specific grounds under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution, are as follows:

Item No.	Item Issue	Reasons/Grounds
10.1	Confirmation of Confidential Minutes - 24 July 2018	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, as stated in the open section of the meeting.
10.2	Human Resources Report	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons s7(2)(a).
10.3	Chief Executive Officer's Salary Increase	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons s7(2)(a).
10.4	Acquire Interests in Land for Awanui Flood Scheme Upgrade	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to enable council to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations) s7(2)(i).
10.5	Marsden Maritime Holdings Ltd - Appointment of Directors	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons s7(2)(a) and the withholding of which is necessary to enable council to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities s7(2)(h).

3. That the Independent Financial Advisor be permitted to stay during business with the public excluded.

Carried

Open Meeting

Moved (Shepherd/Smart)

That the council resumes in open meeting.

Carried

Secretarial Note: As per Standing Order 17.5 council confirmed the resolutions pertaining to confidential Item 10.3 in open meeting.

30. Chief Executive Officer's Salary Increase (Item 10.3)

ID: A1094645

Report from Bill Shepherd, Chairman

Moved (Smart/Stolwerk)

1. That the report ‘Chief Executive Officer's Salary Increase’ by Bill Shepherd, Chairman and dated 7 August 2018, be received.

2. That the Chief Executive Officer’s salary be increased to $288,354 gross per annum.

Carried

Conclusion

The meeting concluded at 1.05pm.

Council Meeting item: 6.1

18 September 2018

TITLE:	Regional Sporting Facilities Rate Allocation for 2018-2021
ID:	A1104263
From:	Phil Heatley, Strategic Projects Manager

Executive summary

This report is to provide for the allocation of grants from the collection of the Regional Sporting Facilities Rate struck as part of the 2018/28 Long-Term Plan (LTP). The allocation process draws from direction provided from several council workshops between August 2017 and August 2018.

It is management’s recommendation that council allocate funding now for the 2018–2021 financial years giving organisations overseeing projects a degree of certainty to plan and a platform to apply for funding from other parties. Should the nature of any project significantly change over the three-year period the Chief Executive Officer would return to council recommending further options.

Recommendation(s)

1. That the report ‘Regional Sporting Facilities Rate Allocation for 2018-2021’ by Phil Heatley, Strategic Projects Manager and dated 31 August 2018, be received.

2. That the following regional sporting facility projects receive an ‘In Principle’ GST exclusive allocation from the cumulative Regional Sporting Facilities Rate collected during the 2018–2021 financial years as follows:

i. Sportsville Dargaville be allocated up to $600,000 from October 2018;

ii. Sportsville Kaikohe Stage 1 be allocated up to $100,000 from November 2018;

iii. Mangawhai Activity Zone be allocated up to $500,000 from May 2019;

iv. Te Hiku Sports Hub be allocated up to $1,400,000 from May 2020;

v. Pohe Island Sports Hub Stage 1 be allocated up to $900,000 from February 2021;

vi. Pohe Island Sports Hub Stage 2 be allocated up to $280,000 from June 2021.

3. That the Chief Executive Officer has authority to distribute funds to each project, up to the amounts allocated, when he is satisfied that the following has been met to his satisfaction:

i. The project Governance Group is properly constituted and capable; and

ii. The project, or standalone stage, is fully funded; and

iii. Any other criteria that he sees as relevant and material having taken advice.

4. That the Chief Executive Officer has discretion over fund distribution timing (before or after the dates in recommendation 3) but distribution sums must not exceed the cumulative Regional Sporting Facilities Rate collected at the time of distribution.

5. That the Chief Executive Officer refer to council if there is a material change in a project or proposed change in maximum allocation from the ‘In Principle’ decision.

6. That the Chief Executive Officer report to council following the completed distribution of the 2018–2021 Regional Sporting Facilities Rate providing:

i. A schedule of projects with the respective grants and dates of distribution; and

ii. A recommendation for the allocation of any surplus rates collected.

Background

Council struck a $15.00 + GST targeted rate in the 2018–2028 LTP, known as the Regional Sporting Facilities Rate, to provide funding support to assist in the development of sporting facilities, across Northland, that are of regional benefit.

Potential recipient projects are to be determined through ongoing work on the Northland Sports Facilities Plan. A partnership between Northland Regional Council, Sport Northland, Northland’s three district councils and Sport New Zealand produced the original Northland Sports Facilities Plan of 2014.

From the workshop of 30 August 2017, subsequent discussions and culminating at the workshop of 22 August 2018, councillors provided staff with the ‘Principles of funding’ when allocating the rate to the potential recipient projects. They were as follows:

· For projects of regional/district significance or benefit;

· For projects, only if in one of Northland’s territorial authorities 2018–2028 LTP;

· For multiple projects in parallel;

· For sporting facilities, not active recreation facilities;

· At a magnitude on a case-by-case basis with no minimum or maximum;

· Limited to construction and construction management;

· For new builds or significant extension of current facilities (not maintenance or refurbishment);

· That rates collected out of a district would not be strictly allocated to a district, the benefits of any project from a regional perspective is what is important. However, if the quantum allocated broadly matched that collected this would be a positive, albeit secondary, benefit.

· Allocation will be subject to final signoff by a council meeting.

Furthermore, councillors’ intent is that we not allocate and distribute more money than has been collected at any one time.

Northland Sports Facility Plan Projects

A proposed project can be presented to Sport Northland in the first instance, by a regional or district not-for-profit sporting focussed group, for consideration and prioritisation. Substantial work since the Northland Sports Facilities Plan 2014 has seen the prioritisation of 13 regional sporting facility projects that are all in varying states of readiness and have been benchmarked against council approved criteria (see attachment).

With the criteria and these principles of funding in mind, the Northland Regional Council’s 2018–2028 LTP consultation provided the public with six projects, two from each district, that were of a nature and state of readiness that could attract Regional Sporting Facilities Rate funding:

· Sportsville Dargaville and the Mangawhai Activity Zone in the Kaipara district;

· The Te Hiku Sports Hub and Sportsville Kaikohe in the Far North district;

· The Pohe Island Sports Hub and Northland Football Hub (Tikipunga) in the Whangārei district.

Public submissions were substantially supportive of projects. Since the 2018–2028 LTP consultation the priority status of these six projects has not changed, although their relative state of readiness has shifted slightly (see attachment).

The relevant district council allocations for each of these projects are presented in the table below.

District Council 2018-28 LTP Allocation

Project	Allocation	Project	Allocation
Sportsville Dargaville	KDC $70,000 & significant previous	Sportsville Kaikohe (Lindvart Park)	FNDC $895,000
Mangawhai Activity Zone	KDC $100,000 & significant previous	Pohe Island Sports Hub	WDC $2,520,000
Te Hiku Sports Hub	FNDC $9,919,000	Northland Football Hub	WDC $1,238,000

Rate collection for 2018–2021

Below is an estimate of the magnitude of Regional Sporting Facilities Rate collected from each district and across Northland considering the latest collection rate data.

District	Rating units/SUIPs	Rate (per RU/SUIP)	Funding Available in One Year	Funding Available Over Three Years
Kaipara	13,753	$15	$192,885	$578,655
Far North	36,045	$15	$465,515	$1,396,545
Whangārei	42,905	$15	$617,832	$1,853,496
REGIONWIDE	92,703	$15	$1,276,232	$3,828,696
Note 1: Proposed rate collected as presented is GST exclusive. Note 2: 86.1% FNDC, 96.0% WDC, 93.5% KDC of rate collected. Note 3: Collection figures are estimates only.

Rate allocation process for 2018–2021

As discussed at workshops, the Regional Sporting Facilities Rate allocation and distribution process would be as follows:

i. Council decide ‘In Principle’ on the allocation to various projects for 2018–2021 and signal when this funding would be available.

ii. The relative project applicants will be invited by council’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to apply only when they can use the allocation. Funds cannot be held over by applicants.

iii. Applications will be received by the Northland Sporting Facilities Plan working group for assessment and forwarding to council’s CEO for consideration and execution.

iv. Distribution occurs when milestones are met (to match government/territorial authority funding milestones, where such funding is involved, to minimise transaction costs).

v. Council’s CEO will return to council only if there is a proposed change in project or allocation from the ‘In Principle’ decision.

vi. Council’s CEO will report to council following the completed distribution of the 2018–2021 Regional Sporting Facilities Rate including:

a. A schedule of projects with the respective grant and date of distribution; and

b. A recommendation for the allocation of any surplus funds.

Allocation for the following three years of funding, being 2021–2024, will be considered and approved by the next elected council.

Proposed rate allocation for 2018–2021

A decision of the magnitude of any grant and its timeliness is a balance between a project’s financial need, its readiness and staging and council’s desire to fund several projects in parallel while ensuring it is not distributing more funds than has been collected at any one time. The latter would result in interest being paid which would erode the capital available for distribution.

Sport Northland, as Chair of the Northland Sporting Facilities Plan working group, has consulted with the six priority project organisations regarding the magnitude and timing of allocation. This feedback has resulted in the following recommendation from council staff for the allocation of the Regional Sporting Facilities Rate for 2018–2021 (refer table below).

Transaction Date		Rates Collected	Project	District	Allocation	Running Balance
Month	Year	$			$	$
October	2018		Sportsville Dargaville	Kaipara	$600,000	$34,925
November	2018		Sportsville Kaikohe Stage 1	Kaipara	$100,000	$28,090
May	2019		Mangawhai Activity Zone	Kaipara	$500,000	$62,704
May	2020		Te Hiku Sports Hub	Far North	$1,400,000	-$61,064
February	2021		Pohe Island Sports Hub Stage 1	Whangārei	$900,000	$49,074
June	2021		Pohe Island Sports Hub Stage 2	Whangārei	$280,000	$48,696
3 Years		$3,828,696			$3,780,000	$48,696
Note 1: Collection figures are estimates only. Note 2: Rates Collected and Allocation as presented is GST exclusive. Note 3: $48,696 unallocated ‘headroom’. The ultimate surplus will need to be allocated.

The recommendation ensures the funds distributed will not significantly exceed that collected at any point in time. It also allows for approximately $50,000 ‘headroom’ to ensure there is no over-allocation. This conservative approach will inevitably result in a surplus at the end of the 2018–2021 period which will require the CEO to report to council with a recommendation for the allocation of any surplus funds.

Rate allocation scenario for 2021–2024

As agreed, the allocation of the 2021–2024 Regional Sporting Facilities Rate funding will be considered and approved by the next elected council.

However, councillors may be interested in the likely forecast scenario given the information that the Northland Sporting Facilities Plan working group has to date (refer table below). Please note that the figures and dates should be treated as broad estimates given that these projects are only part way through the planning stage and their scope is yet to be finalised. Projects may be brought forward or delayed. Furthermore, project costs could escalate or be met by other funding bodies.

Scenario Transaction Date		Rates Collected	Scenario Project	District	Scenario Allocation	Running Balance
Month	Year	$			$	$
November	2021		Pohe Island Sports Hub Stage 2	Whangārei	$600,000	$128,090
November	2022		Sportsville Kaikohe Stage 2	Far North	$1,400,000	$4,322
August	2023		Northland Football Hub Stage 1	Whangārei	$1,000,000	$1,060
June	2024		Northland Football Hub Stage 2	Whangārei	$780,000	$48,696
3 Years		$3,828,696			$3,780,000	$48,696
Note 1: Collection and Allocation figures are forecast estimates only. Note 2: Rates Collected and Allocation as presented is GST exclusive. Note 3: $48,696 unallocated ‘headroom’. The ultimate surplus would need to be allocated.

While council has been clear that rates collected out of a district did not need to be strictly allocated to a district, councillors may be interested in how the six-year scenario would ‘play out’ if these projects did ultimately receive this funding. The quantum allocated broadly matches that collected (refer table below).

District	Collection Over 6 Years	Scenario Allocation Over 6 Years	Collection vs Allocation
Kaipara	$1,157,310	$1,100,000	-$57,310
Far North	$2,793,090	$2,900,000	$106,910
Whangārei	$3,706,992	$3,560,000	-$146,992
TOTAL	$7,657,392	$7,560,000	$97,392 Unallocated
Note 1: $97,392 unallocated ‘headroom’. The ultimate surplus would need to be allocated. Note 2: Rate Collection and Allocation as presented is GST exclusive.

Considerations

1. Options

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Allocate the rate now as presented for the 2018–2021 financial years	Council publicly presents a clear three-year plan and process, signalling early those projects best positioned for funding. Project group has a degree of certainty and can plan. Certainty of council funding provides a platform to apply for funds from other parties. A natural next step following the 2018–2028 LTP process having signalled these projects as those of a nature that could attract funding.	The status of projects could change leading to the revisiting of a decision. Other projects could materialise, although they are unlikely to be well advanced.
2	Allocate the rate now with amendment for the 2018–2021 financial years	As above. New information is considered.	As above.
3	Do not allocate the rate to all or some of the projects at this time	Provides the opportunity for the planning of projects, as presented, to mature. Provides the opportunity for other projects to materialise.	Project groups do not have any certainty and may struggle to progress planning. Project groups may struggle to attract funding from other parties. Raises expectations of those groups with significantly less advanced or thought-out projects.

The staff’s recommended option is 1, to allocate the rate now as presented for the 2018–2021 financial years. Should the nature of any project significantly change the Chief Executive can represent options to council.

2. Significance and engagement

The collection and allocation of the Regional Sporting Facilities Rate is well supported by the 2018–2028 LTP consultation process and consistent with subsequent policy and decisions. Allocation decisions from this council meeting will be extensively presented to the public.

3. Policy, risk management and legislative compliance

The decision is consistent with the policy and legislative requirements.

Further considerations

4. Community views

Submissions during the 2018–2028 LTP consultation process were by a substantial majority supportive, or otherwise silent, on the projects presented.

5. Māori impact statement

There have been no specific concerns raised from Māori or iwi groups in respect of the sporting facility proposals. Māori or iwi groups will benefit equally with all residents in terms of access and use of all facilities.

6. Financial implications

The allocation is provided for in the 2018–2028 LTP. It is envisaged that council will not allocate and distribute significantly more money than has been collected at any one time to avoid interest costs eroding the benefit of the rate.

7. Implementation issues

The actual distribution of funds allocated will be dependent on the progress of projects and inevitably the projects being able to attract the balance of funding required.

Those organisations’ leading projects will need to apply for funding and provide evidence of need and evidence of completion. Council staff will make best endeavours to use government/territorial authority funding milestones, where such funding is involved, to minimise council’s own administration and transaction costs.

Attachments

Attachment 1: Project Prioritisation Scoring ⇩

Attachment 2: Project Prioritisation Criteria ⇩

Authorised by Group Manager

Name:	Phil Heatley
Title:	Strategic Projects Manager
Date:	10 September 2018

Council Meeting ITEM: 6.4

18 September 2018Attachment 1

Submission

To: Ministry for the Environment

PO Box 10362

Wellington 6143

etsconsultation@mfe.govt.nz

By: Northland Regional Council

Private Bag 9021

Whangārei Mail Centre

WHANGĀREI 0148

On: A Better ETS for Forestry: Consultation document

Introduction

1. The Northland Regional Council (council) is grateful for the opportunity to comment on the consultation document. This submission is made in the interests of promoting a sustainable environment and economy in Northland and with council’s statutory functions and roles under the Local Government Act 2002 and other relevant legislation in mind.

2. The council understands the importance of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in promoting and enabling the transition to a low net emissions economy. Council agrees that there is a need to improve the framework of the ETS and strengthen incentives for permanent and commercial plantation forests. The Northland region has significant potential for land use change with large areas of land suited to conversion to forest and therefore has an interest in improvements to the ETS to facilitate this.

3. We understand that forestry is unique in that it is currently the only sector that can get recognition for carbon sequestration through the ETS in the form of carbon credits (units). Council considers there is however potential for other sequestration measures that could be incorporated into the ETS in a similar way. This will become increasingly important as permanent forests age and sequestration rates drop – meaning if we are to meet emission reduction targets New Zealand must continue to plant new forests to offset emissions. We strongly urge the government to assess the potential for incorporating other sequestration measures into the ETS, particularly those that can be integrated into existing farm / agricultural systems given the very limited tool box currently available to this sector to abate / offset emissions. Examples could include carbon credits for cropping fibre, soil conservation and riparian planting. We acknowledge such measures do not form part of these proposals and that the government is bound by international protocols, but council considers alternatives to forestry sequestration will become increasingly important, particularly if and when agriculture enters the scheme if the government’s objectives for a productive, sustainable and climate change resilient economy and just and inclusive society are to be achieved.

Submission

4. Carbon credits for riparian areas: While we understand riparian plantings can be registered in the ETS if they meet the eligibility requirements (including minimum size / width thresholds), council is disappointed to see that a specific category and eligibility criteria for this has not been considered. The discussion document states that inclusion in the ETS is unlikely to drive a significant increase in riparian planting and that the benefit to farmers is likely to be small (emissions unit value is estimated at around 2t/ha per year). However, it may be possible to bundle riparian planting and possibly soil conservation planting into other ETS eligible forest activity on farm and thereby reduce administrative burden / cost effectiveness. Council asks that the government take another look at the potential for this.

5. Accounting: Council supports the proposal that all new forestry participants be required to use the ‘averaging accounting’ system (as opposed to carbon stock change accounting). Council agrees that this will simplify administration and compliance costs by avoiding the need for accounting at harvest and payment of surrender obligations. Council also agrees that this change would allow a greater return from registered forests as there is less risk in selling allocated units for forest owners under the averaging regime.

6. In relation to existing forest participants, council supports Option three which allows participants to make a one-off and one-way choice to either retain the carbon stock change approach or to move to averaging accounting. This is on the basis that there are forester owners with business plans and contracted commitments based on the carbon stock change accounting approach that should not be disadvantaged by a compulsory accounting change. We agree that being a ‘once only’ decision it would prevent ETS participants from “cherry picking” between the two accounting approaches.

7. Council agrees that there needs to be some allowance for a transition between the two systems that recognises the potential impact on some forest participants if they decide to transition at the Mandatory Emission Reporting Period - in particular those that may face timing related issues in terms of surrender obligations but yet to receive income from the harvest. The potential option to allow participants to pay obligations at the Mandatory Emission Reporting Period following the transition appears logical.

8. Design of averaging accounting: If averaging accounting is to be used for all ‘new’ forests, this should be applied as early as possible. Given change to legislation is required (and anticipated in 2019), council agrees that new forests should be defined as those planted after 1 January 2020. While this may mean some foresters delay planting until after this date to avoid the need to transition from carbon stock change accounting to averaging, this appears unavoidable.

9. Calculating average carbon storage: Council agrees with the proposal to continue use of default ‘look up’ tables for participant forests of 100ha or less as this limits complexity and administrative costs for smaller forests. The use of field measurement approach for forests over 100ha is also supported. We see no need to change the 100ha threshold, but note and support the intention to review yield tables. For the purposes of calculating average crediting age and carbon storage, council supports Option 2 – this is on the grounds that this method provides more of an incentive for increasing carbon storage by providing a higher average age (and ability to earn more units) as a result of longer rotation. We see this being particularly beneficial on land with high erosion risk where longer rotations present less risk of adverse events than shorter rotation forests with more frequent harvest cycles.

10. Changes to ‘average’ age: In terms of changes to average crediting age and obligations of participants, council supports Option1 for both circumstances (where forests are either above or below the average age). Option 1 (in both circumstances) appears to provide the most certainty for participants when / if the average age changes (either up or down). This seems the simplest and most certain approach and will avoid the need for participants to retain units to cover potential changes to the average age and subsequent unplanned liabilities.

11. Claiming units on entry to averaging: While the averaging approach appears very attractive for new forests, for forests at or above average age, the averaging accounting approach would act as a disincentive to entry to the ETS (as they do not receive credits for prior growth). While we understand this is pretty much the case currently, we would urge the government to consider options to resolve this.

12. Ongoing reporting: The current approach to reporting requires measurement and reporting every Mandatory Emission Reporting Period and associated debiting or crediting of the forest, depending on the stage in the cycle. The move to averaging would remove these requirements as once a forest reaches its average age there is no need to report changes in carbon storage. Council supports Option 3 and the requirement to report changes to average age, any deforestation and change forest management every Mandatory Emission Reporting Period (E.g. change in species or rotation length). This is a far simpler and more cost-effective approach and one of the key benefits of averaging accounting.

13. Removing liabilities for adverse events: Currently the ETS requires participants to account for reduced carbon as a result of adverse events (such as storm damage or earthquakes). This means participants need to carry insurance to cover the liability arising from the need to repay units. Council strongly supports the proposal (Option 2) to remove this current requirement, as this is in our view one of the impediments to entry into the ETS, particularly for permanent forests. We do however support the requirement that participants provide evidence of re-establishment of the forest post the adverse event.

14. Offsetting: Council supports Option 2 which would allow participants who use averaging to avoid deforestation liabilities provided they establish a new forest of equal or larger area elsewhere. Council supports this as it retains flexibility in land use options and also lowers the risk of forestry as an investment.

15. Recognition of harvested wood: Council supports the move to recognise and account for the emissions mitigation provided in harvested wood in the ETS. Council prefers Option 2 on the basis that participants should receive the additional units by way of an increase to average crediting age. Council is of the view this would further incentivise participation in the ETS and afforestation, whereas allocating equivalent funding to an industry scheme to promote longer life wood products (Option 3) is not likely to do so.

16. Permanent forest category: Council strongly supports increased incentives for establishment of permanent forests as there are multiple co-benefits likely in terms of biodiversity, water quality and soil conservation. There is a significant opportunity for the establishment of new permanent forests in Northland on land less suited to production forestry. We understand participation rates in the Permanent Forests Sink Imitative (PFSI) have been low, even though PFSI units have earned a premium. One of the reasons for this is the need to ensure the permanence of the forest by covenant which is administratively cumbersome and a disincentive for many landowners. Of the options presented, council prefers Option 4 (the creation of a permanent forest category and disestablishment of the PFSI) provided there are strong assurances the forest is actually permanent. We consider the conditions available in the ETS are sufficiently robust to negate the need for covenants and the 50year non-harvest period is supported. Units received for permanent forests should however be distinguishable from standard NZ units – we also support the proposal to allow selective harvest from such forests provided canopy cover is maintained as this will enable additional revenue and act as a further incentive to establish such forests.

17. In terms of calculating units to be credited for carbon storage in permanent forests, council considers averaging accounting would disadvantage the establishment of native forest which continue to accumulate carbon for 100 years or more until they reach a ‘steady state’. Council therefore supports the carbon stock change accounting system (Option 2) for permanent forests.

18. Council supports the proposal to transfer existing PFSI participants into the new permanent forest ETS category, but allowing those that do not support this to exit the scheme. We agree with the three options presented for permanent forest owners after the expiry of the 50year non-harvest period (including the option to sign up for another 50 year non-harvest period or de-forest and pay liabilities), as this retains flexibility for land use and landowners, which again increase incentives to participate in this category.

19. Operational changes: Council has limited views in relation to the operational changes outlined in the consultation document and therefore has only a few comments on the more significant proposals. Council supports greater transparency / access to information on land classifications and eligibility under the ETS – mapped layers of pre-1990 forest land, post-1989 forest land and land eligible to be registered as post1989 forest land would be extremely beneficial for existing and potential investors.

20. Council strongly supports simplifying exemptions from liabilities where deforestation is for the purpose of managing ‘tree weeds’ (E.g. wilding conifers).

21. Council agrees with the proposal to relax the emissions returns for natural disturbance events that permanently prevents forest reestablishment (such as erosion) – given there are no surrender obligations the return serves little purpose.

Conclusion

22. As can be seen in our responses above, overall council supports the majority of the changes proposed in relation to forestry in the ETS. In our view, these will remove some of the impediments to participation and provide meaningful incentives for afforestation and thereby assist the transition to a low carbon economy. The administrative burden will also be eased, particularly if the option for averaging accounting proceeds. The improved regime for establishment of permanent forests under the ETS is particularly pleasing – council would encourage government to look at further incentives for this activity as the ETS evolves. Once again, council thanks the government for the opportunity to comment on the proposals.

Council Meeting item: 7.2

18 September 2018

TITLE:	Chief Executive’s Report to Council
ID:	A1098295
From:	Malcolm Nicolson, Chief Executive Officer

Recommendation

That the report ‘Chief Executive’s Report to Council’ by Malcolm Nicolson, Chief Executive Officer and dated 18 September 2018, be received.

7.2.1 Highlights

Funding Grant

NRC received a funding grant of $495,900 to enhance the council’s afforestation and soil conservation capabilities from a funding application to the MPI’s hill country erosion fund “boost round”. Negotiations into the finer detail of how the project will be delivered will be finalised toward the beginning of September. The funding grant is to be used in the 2018/19 financial year.

7.2.2 CEO’s Office

SHARED SERVICES

Shared service focus remains on northland councils are working together on applications for the provincial growth fund a part of the Northland Forward Together’s ‘One Voice’ advocacy program. The four Councils recently met for a stocktake of current projects that are currently ‘in train’ including four waters, IT services, provision of GIS in a single viewer, and LIDAR.

COUNCIL PROPERTY UPDATE

Renovation work begins on Council’s Water Street offices as a response to increased field staff capacity as per the LTP.

Current Legal Proceedings
*Department*	*Description*	*Status*
Consents	To construct a boardwalk as part of a coastal walkway in Back Bay, Mangawhai Estuary	Mediation held on 10 April 2018. Further mediation adjourned until 30 June 2019.
Consents	Seventeen (17) groundwater takes for horticultural irrigation at Houhora, Motutangi, and Waiharara	A pre-hearing meeting for the Environment Court was held on 10 August 2018 to clarify matters for the appellants and section 274 parties. Expert witness conferencing between the parties’ hydrologists has been scheduled for 20 September 2018 to discuss the matters raised by the DoC appeal. The Court has set a hearing start date of 12 December 2018 in the event that the appeals cannot be resolved.
Consents	Proposed deepening and realignment of Whangārei Harbour entrance and approaches	NZ Refinery has appealed specific conditions of consent. Northport has attached as a section 274 party in support of the appeal. Patuharakeke Te Iwi Trust Board has attached as a section 274 party opposing the appeal. Initial mediation to be held on 24 September 2018.

7.2.3 Corporate Excellence

Fraud Declaration

I am not aware of any fraud nor am I investigating any incidence or suspected incidence of fraud at this time.

7.2.4 Regulatory Services

Proposed Regional Plan

Hearings started on 28 August 2018. There will be about 15 days of hearings held in Kaitaia, Kerikeri, Whangarei and Otiria Marae.

A separate hearing for genetically modified organisms (GMO) submissions will start on 30 October 2018 in Whangarei and run for 2-3 days.

National initiatives

Emissions Trading Scheme

See Item 6.5.

Phasing-out single use plastic bags

The government has proposed to phase-out the sale of single use plastic bags. A draft submission was presented to the council workshop on 22 August. Feedback received at workshop was incorporated and the submission was lodged prior to the 14 September 2018 deadline.

Land use and subdivision applications

During August 2018, 20 resource consent applications were received from the district councils. No comments or submissions have been made at the time of writing.

Consents in Process

During August 2018, a total of 64 Decisions were issued. These decisions comprised:

4	Moorings
10	Coastal Permits
0	Air Discharge Permits
8	Land Discharge Permits
2	Water Discharge Permits
30	Land Use Consents
9	Water Permits
1	Bore Consents

The processing timeframes for the August 2018 consents ranged from:

§ 134 to 3 calendar days, with the median time being 28 days;

§ 51 to 3 working days, with the median time being 20 days.

37	Applications were received in August 2018.

Of the 96 applications in progress at the end of August 2018:

26	were received more than 12 months ago (most awaiting further information);
23	were received between 6 and 12 months ago (most awaiting further information);
47	less than 6 months.

Appointment of Hearing Commissioners

The following commissioners were appointed in August 2018 for one consent hearing:

§ Mrs Sharon McGarry and Ms Melean Absolum for consents associated with a jetty and associated activities at Waipohutukawa Bay. The hearing is scheduled for 14-15 November 2018.

Consents Decisions and Progress on Notified Applications in Process, Objections and Appeals

The current level of notified application processing activities at the end of August 2018 is (by number):

§ Applications Publicly/Limited Notified During Previous Month	0
§ Progress on Applications Previously Notified	5
§ Hearings and Decisions	2
§ Appeals/Objections	3

Compliance and State of the Environment monitoring

The results of compliance monitoring for the period 1 – 31 August 2018 (and year-to-date figures) are summarised in the following table and discussed below.

Classification	Total	Full compliance	Non-compliance	Significant non-compliance	Not exercised during period
Air discharges	16	13	1	1	1
Coastal permit	23	19	2	2	0
Discharge permit	54	37	11	6	0
FDE – Discharge permit	129	75	33	21	0
FDE – Permitted activity	58	43	7	8	0
Land use consent	22	19	0	0	3
Water permit	109	102	7	0	0
Total	411	308	61	38	4
Percentage		74.94%	14.84%	9.25%	0.97%
YTD	1534	1300	129	48	57

Air discharges

A total of 36 air quality related environmental incidents were received, most of which related to burning and smoke nuisance.

Continuous ambient PM₁₀ monitoring results for July 2018 for the Whangārei and Marsden Point airsheds, and Kaikohe, showed that compliance was met with the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ). PM_2.5 monitoring results for Whangārei were within the Ambient Air Quality Guideline value.

Coastal

The majority of consents monitored during the reporting period related to coastal discharges (treated municipal sewage and industrial), and coastal structure inspections.

Routine water quality sampling of the Whangārei, Bay of Islands and Kaipara harbours and southern estuaries (Mangawhai, Waipū and Ruakākā) was carried out.

Council staff met with representatives from the three district councils, Northtec, community and not-for-profit organisations as a new group named “Collaborative Coastal Litter Monitoring Northland”. The aim of the group is to undertake litter reduction initiatives and rubbish clean-ups in a coordinated and collaborative manner, and to ensure robust data is collected through these initiatives to support wider change.

Hazardous substances

· Nine incidents involving the discharge of hazardous substances and 29 enquiries regarding contaminated land were received and responded to.

· The collection and packaging of hazardous substances continued during the reporting period.

Discharge and land use monitoring

Routine compliance monitoring of discharge and land use consents continued during the period. Council staff attended the following during the reporting period:

· National FDE monitoring audit. All of the NRC files audited were agreed with by the audit panel.

· Meeting with staff from DairyNZ and Fonterra to discuss FDE compliance.

· Meeting of the RMA Northland Forestry Development Group.

Since 1 May 2018 (when the National Environmental Standard – Plantation Forestry came into effect), NRC has received 96 notices of activities. The majority (62%) of these have been in relation to harvesting, which has created considerable work load for council staff.

Farm Dairy Effluent (FDE) Monitoring

FDE inspections commenced on 16 July 2018. This is a month earlier than normal, with the early visits being made to winter milking farms. A total of 876 farms will be visited by the FDE contractor or council staff prior to Christmas. To date about 21% of these have been visited and reported on. The results for consented and permitted activity farms are tabled below and compared with those for the same period last year.

Consented FDE discharges

A total of 129 consented farms have been visited and reported on, which is about 19% of the total consented farms to be visited.

Full Compliance		Non-Compliance		Significant Non-Compliance
This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year
75	52	33	18	21	26
58%	54%	26%	19%	16%	27%

Non-consented FDE discharges

A total of 58 non-consented farms have been visited and reported on, which is about 27% of the total non-consented farms to be visited.

Full Compliance		Non-Compliance		Significant Non-Compliance
This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year
43	63	7	8	8	24
74%	66%	12%	9%	14%	25%

At this stage, there appear to be promising decreases in the percentage of significantly non-compliant consented and permitted activity dairy farms.

Environmental incidents

One incident was recorded during the reporting period which resulted in a significant environmental impact. This was in relation to the death of eels in a downstream waterway due to a diesel spill in an adjoining drain. Diesel odour had also been objectionable to downstream properties for several days following the incident.

Enforcement

Abatement notices, infringement notices and formal warnings

The following enforcement actions were taken during the period:

	Infringement Notice		Abatement Notice		Formal Warning		Total
Nature of Offence	No. Offences	No. Notices	No. Offences	No. Notices	No. Offences	No. Notices	No. Offences	No. Notices
Activity in CMA contravening a rule/NES	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2
Boat maintenance	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
Burning and smoke nuisance	4	4	2	2	0	0	5	6
Farm dairy effluent	13	29	19	23	0	0	24	52
Illegal activity in CMA	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1
Illegal use of lake bed or river bed	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
Other water discharge	2	2	2	2	0	0	3	4
Sediment	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
Total	20	37	26	30	1	1	37	68

Other Enforcement

Dumping and burning of demolition waste, Kaikohe

Charges have been laid against two companies, two individuals (associated with the two companies) and a land owner for the dumping and burning of demolition waste near Kaikohe. Statements of evidence were required to be delivered to the defence by 3 September 2018. The case has been adjourned to 10 October 2018 for a “Case Review Hearing”.

7.2.5 Environmental Services

Land Management

Environment Fund Update

182 projects totalling $968,170.21 have been approved for funding so far, this financial year. Another delegated authority review meeting, to approve applications, is scheduled for 13^th September 2018.

Farm Water Quality Improvement Plans (FWQIP) – 2018/19

This financial year 42 FWQIP’s have been commenced and 12 have been completed.

Kaipara Hill Country Erosion Project

The Kaipara hill country erosion project is charging into its final year with $214,473 of NRC’s Environment Fund being allocated across 42 projects within the Kaipara catchment and 11 new properties with areas of high erosion risk undertaking farm environment plans. These 11 farms total 1,673 hectares within the Kaipara catchment.

Approximately 3,100 poplar poles were successfully delivered to 40 properties for erosion control within the Kaipara catchment. Visual audits indicated that the previous years plantings were successful.

Mangere Catchment Group Planting Day - 6 August 2018

Seventy people from Kokopu School and NRC’s Mangere Catchment Group joined with local landowners to plant 750 riparian plants in a wetland area. Wetland plants were supplied by Waimarie Nurseries and Te Arai Nurseries. The planting day was a great success and the council received excellent feedback from Kokopu School, and landowners Jude Gatenby & Mike Waymouth, for our organisation and support of this community initiative.

BIODIVERSITY

FIF Dune Lakes Project

The first quarterly hui of the project’s Technical Advisory Group was held on Friday 31 August 2018 and included NRC project staff, kaiwhakahaere (iwi community co-ordinators), DOC, Fish & Game, Kaipara District Council, MPI and featured special guest speakers from both NIWA and Cawthron Institute. This group will both inform the project as well as provide a concerted approach to joint freshwater improvement.

The Cawthron Institute is beginning a five-year national research programme, taking sediment cores from all lake types at all NZ latitudes in order to describe geological and genetic-level biological processes looking back over a 1000-year period. Northland’s dune lakes are well represented due to their diverse dynamics. NRC will be supporting this work by facilitating access, iwi relations and, at times, on the water support.

CoastCare

Waipu Primary School helped plant 2000 spinifex in less than two hours on newly reshaped dunes at Waipū Cove, continuing this successful dune restoration project. Planting also took place on the dunes in Ruakākā Wildlife Refuge with Ruakākā School and Bream Bay Coastal Care Trust. CoastCare groups also undertook dune planting at Taipā and Tokerau Beach in August.

Wetlands

Work is in progress with the GIS team to develop a process to update the internal and public NRC website GIS wetland layer. This is particularly important following the court’s ruling from the Moratti-Basin Rd wetland prosecution. The GIS layer showing adjoining landowners to the priority top wetlands is being verified to be distributed to Land Management Advisors to action.

BIOSECURITY

Biosecurity Threats/Incursions

Mycoplasma bovis

On 30 August, Biosecurity New Zealand confirmed that a dry stock beef farm in Northland had tested positive for the bacterial cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis. This is the first time the disease has been found in this region and was identified through the tracing of animal movements from known infected farms. The farm has been under a Restricted Place legal notice under the Biosecurity Act since May 2018, which has effectively placed them in quarantine lockdown – restricting the movement of animals and other risk goods on and off the farm and all infected groups of cattle on the farm will be culled.

The Council’s Biosecurity Incursion Management Officer is continuing to assist the Ministry for Primary Industries with the management of fifteen Northland farms, nine of which are under Notices of Direction (NoD), one Infected Property (IP) and five farms which have had their notices revoked because of the properties being declared disease free following testing. The restrictions (NoD’s) are in place while ongoing surveillance for M. bovis is being carried out. The Government along with the dairy and beef industries maintain that eradication of the disease is possible as there is only one strain present indicating a single source of infection.

Currently, the disease is still not widespread with 35 infected farms nationwide and approximately 271 out of 20,000 farms (1%) under some form of restriction. Latest updates can be found at the link below:

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/responding/alerts/mycoplasma-bovis/

Kauri Dieback

The Kauri Dieback Programme held consultation on the programme refresh. The three key themes for consultation were the refreshed strategy, the draft national kauri dieback management plan and designing the organisation that will protect kauri. Several public meetings and hui were held across Northland during late August. The consultation period closes on 12 September.

The Kiwi Coast Pest Control Programme

The Kiwi Coast has now completed its first five years of operation. The results achieved from 2013 – 2018 have been documented fully in the ‘Kiwi Coast’ report and a summary of the key achievements follow.

Key achievements include:

· The number of entities linking in to the collaborative initiative increased from 32 at the end of Year 1 to 120 at the end of Year 5;

· 108 of these entities are community-led groups and active projects which collectively manage 146,801 hectares;

· Thirty-four skill building and trapper training workshops were held with a total of 9,685 people attending Kiwi Coast supported events and workshops over the 5 year period;

· Predator traps were supplied to key strategic areas in eastern Whangarei and the Bay of Islands to help build landscape scale continuous predator trapping networks operated by multiple landcare groups to enable safe kiwi dispersal;

· Kiwi numbers continued to stabilise and climb in managed areas on the Kiwi Coast, bucking the national trend identified by the Kiwis for Kiwi Trust in 2014 of a 2% decline per annum in kiwi population; and

· Monitoring of pāteke, one of the key ‘Indicator Species’ chosen to demonstrate the outcome for native wildlife other than kiwi, showed numbers are also increasing in a growing number of areas with predator control on the Kiwi Coast.

Marine

Council was briefed on the proposed options for managing the recent incursion of Sabella spallanzanii at Opua at the council workshop on the 13 July. Staff are progressing discussions with MPI in regard to funding options for the response.

Urban Pest Control Education

A display of plant pests has been on show at Northtec Art Gallery for all of August as part of the environmental and art student contribution to building engagement on pest management issues. One of the arts students will assist with giving advice to the messaging and branding of the urban pest control initiative for Whangarei as public interest grows.

Urban Pest Control Promotion

Successful market day awareness - Woody weed hits the Whangarei markets (left) and Dr Dai Morgan (North Tec tutor) and Kane McElrea discuss how to find out what pests are at your place (right). A display at the Whangarei Growers Market was used to encourage urban landowners to engage in pest survey and control as well as community urban land care groups.

Wild Ginger

The sustainable farming fund grant and contributions from stakeholders mean that nearly one million dollars will be put towards finding and testing new biological control agents to combat wild ginger. The first stakeholder meeting for the Stop Wild Ginger Group has been held, with Hugh Gourlay from Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research attending. Hugh will also be meeting with key contacts from the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) at a conference in Switzerland this week, and will be providing an update on the export permits for the control agents from India before September.

Road and Rail Corridor

Work is progressing to develop partnerships with District Councils, NZTA and community groups, to implement the Road and Rail Corridor Pest Plant requirements of the Northland Regional Pest and Marine Pathway Management Plan.

EnviroSchools Project Pest Control

Biosecurity staff assisted EnviroSchools Project Pest Control at Lonsdale Park and the Tangihua Lions Lodge. 57 students demonstrated their knowledge of setting a variety of traps for possum, mustelid, feral cat and rat control. These students will gain credits towards their NCEA qualification.

RIVERS

River Contract Works

Priority Rivers	Work	General Status	Comments
Awanui	OpEx	0% complete	Tender awarded. All weather work is underway.
Awanui	CapEx	5% complete	Work is progressing with Bell’s Hill Bench.
Kaihu	OpEx	0% complete	Tender is posted on GETS and closes 31 August.

LTP Projects

Rivers	Comments
Awanui	Bell’s Hill Bench - Demolition of the buildings is now complete. Concrete breaking that can be completed in wet weather will continue to prep site for earthworks commencement. Refinement of the detailed design is progressing. Te-Ahu - Draft detailed design for Te Ahu fast-track bank stabilisation is complete. Variation to resource consent for these works has been granted. Initial approach to landowners of spillways south of Kaitaia re easements & compensation is underway. Tender for full scheme upgrade resource consenting closes 6 Sept.
Matangirau	A meeting is scheduled with the community leaders, FNDC and NRC to refine and understand the community’s aspirations.
Kawakawa - Taumarere	An email update will be sent to the Taumarere Flood Management Working Group in September.
Whangarei	Working on agreement and easement instruments. Geotech is programmed for 8 September. Detailed design to follow.
Panguru	A working group meeting was held 9 August. Options from that meeting were circulated to the working party.
Kerikeri	Meeting held 16 August. Landowner engagement with draft design started

NATURAL HAZARDS

Work Streams	% complete	Comments
Regional LiDAR Project	5%	RPS has contracted Mainland Air to complete the LiDAR capture. We expect a start in September.
Priority Rivers Flood Hazard Maps	90%	Waipu and Paparoa catchment flood mapping has been completed and the team is reviewing the model files.
Awanui Flood Model	25%	Data transfer to the engineering is complete. In house modelling, has sped up the project and given a better understanding of the complex overflow of SH-1.

HYDROLOGY

Hydrology Team & Water resources Work Programme:

· The Water Resource Scientist has completed the Kaitaia flood forecast model, which will be tested by the hydrology team during significant weather events. Due to the uncertainty with the model, it will require 5- 10 weather events to calibrate, which may take a number of years. A summary of the Awanui Hydrology flood forecast model is available if additional information is required.

· The drought warning system will be run at the beginning of spring to assess the winter recharge looking ahead to the 2018/19 summer.

Auckland Council (AC) has been approached for information on the rain corrected radar data (RCRD) provided by the MetService. AC in conjunction with Weather radar NZ has developed software to display the data. The benefits of radar are it provides a spatial representation of the rain, rain gauges are accurate at the point of measurement, but interpolation between the rain gauges can be problematic. For information refer to the RCRD report

· Below are some possible applications for RCRD

o Input into flood forecast models

o Post event analysis

o Assist during flood events for intel to CDEM

o Provide spatial information on the significance of an event in terms of the return period, for example the below image details exactly where a 1:100-year event is occurring across the region:

Rain corrected radar data: ARI (years)

Rain gauge data: ARI (years)

· The Hatea sediment sampler has upgraded with the new Hyquest logger.

· As part the Kaitaia flood upgrade work, three concrete huts were formed in Kaiwaka and delivered to the Union East Street yard where over the coming weeks they will be fitted out with telemetry gear. On 24 September they will be transported north, where work will begin connecting the water level gear between the river and the huts. These stations will be used for monitoring the Te Puhi, Victoria and Takahue rivers. The Awanui Double Crossing station will be installed early September 2018.

7.2.6 Governance And Engagement

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Investment and Growth Reserve – Projects report

Project	August update	Future developments/ reporting
Extension 350	Fourth quarter 2017/18 report received.	First quarter 2018/19 due October.
Resources Enterprise Limited (REL)	Workshop with councillors on recent developments.	Continue to engage with directors including meeting for October.
Hundertwasser Art Centre (Whangārei)	Received project plan and other materials, and request for first payment.	Assessing whether conditions of funding have been met to make first payment.
Kawakawa Hundertwasser Park Centre (Te Hononga)	Draft funding agreement between council and the Trust produced.	Finalise funding agreement by end of September.
Extended Regional Promotion	Report for the six months ended June 2018 received.	Report for the first six months 2018/19 due in February.
Twin Coast Cycle Trail (TCCT)	None.	Awaiting further progress reports and associated invoices to complete funding commitment.
Demand assessment for new water storage	Lodged the Provincial Growth Fund application on 8 August.	Preparatory work on tender documents.

Investment and Growth Reserve – Business case funding by Northland Inc.

No business case funding allocation requests received from Northland Inc.

Other activities undertaken included:

· Waitangi Mountain Bike Park – received six monthly report for period ending June 2018. Report indicates that fundraising activities for the final stage (Stage 4) of the entire project has been successfully concluded. Stage 4 consists of the construction of the Hub facilities and the building of the final trails which will take us up to 60kms of track.

· Discussion with proponents of the Manea Footprints of Kupe project at Omapere.

· Northland Walking and Cycling Strategy – approval gained at August council meeting, and initial discussions with NZTA for business case funding through the Twin Coast Discovery Revitalisation project.

ONLINE CHANNELS

· Highlights – Our new website went live during August with a refreshed look and feel to match the new branding.

· Most popular post on Facebook this month – July Northland rainfall map.

Key Performance Indicators	Apl-18	May-17	Jun-18	Jul-18	Aug-18
WEB
# Visits to the NRC website	25,000	13,100	17,500	12,800	12,000
E-payments made	2	6	0	No data	19
# subscription customers (cumulative)	1,165	1,173	1,165	1,153	1,167
SOCIAL MEDIA (cumulative)
# Twitter followers	1,383	1,389	1,391	1,403	1,394
# NRC Facebook fans	6,145	6,180	6,360	6,440	6,453
# NRC Overall Facebook Reach	67,800	54,200	94,400	77,400	81,000
# CDEM Facebook fans	15,700	15,700	15,900	15,900	15,900
# CDEM Overall Facebook Reach	50,700	11,800	76,100	24,600	50,000
# Instagram followers	286	322	381	432	481

enviroschools / education

Events held

· Mangere planting day
Please see “Mangere Catchment Group Planting Day - 6 August 2018”, under Environmental Services, for more detail.

· Project Pest Control assessment

On 14 and 16 August, Project Pest Control assessment workshops were held at Lonsdale Park and Tangihua Lodge, respectively.

· Silver Enviroschools Reflection

On 21 August, Ruawai Kindergarten achieved Enviroschools Silver at a sharing and decision-making session attended by lots of whanau. We will work together towards a presentation ceremony.

Presentations made

· 30 August – to MSD cadets on NRC and in particular Enviroschools activities

· 31 August – to FIF Lakes Project Technical Advisory Group on Enviroschools and the WaiRestoration project.

School communities facilitated
During August 36 school communities were visited by Enviroschools facilitators.

EVENTS

Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards Entrants Networking Event (Friday 24 August).

Entrants and sponsors attended a networking event at Northec. The purpose of the event was to provide sponsors with an opportunity to speak and inform entrants about their award category. Councillor Rick Stolwerk informed entrants about the change in council’s award from the Sustainable Business Award to Environmental Excellence.

Science Fair Awards

Council sponsors both the Central Northland Science Fair Awards and the Far North Science Fair Awards. The winner of the Far North award was Nicole Johnston, Kerikeri High School for ‘Goodness of Glucose’. The winner of the Central Northland award was Callum Anderson, a Y13 student from Whangarei Boys High School. It was great to see lots of environmentally focused science fair projects on display.

MĀORI ENGAGEMENT

The Iwi, Local Government Authorities Chief Executives forum met during August to discuss regional issues, in particular, progressing work on a regional governance relationship between the Mayoral Forum and Taitokerau Iwi Chairs. This was followed up by a meeting of a small working group tasked with drafting a relationship agreement.

Councils Chief Executive met with Trustees of Haititaimarangai Marae, after an approach from the Marae to council to enter into a relationship. A relationship, along with issues facing the marae and its community were discussed.

Staff met with the Chief Executive of Ngātiwai Trust Board to discuss recent changes to the Resource Management Act 1991 as well as how council might be able to support aspirations of Ngātiwai Uri in regard to marine protection mechanisms at Mimiwhangata.

GOVERNANCE SUPPORT

Local government official information (LGOIMA) requests

Month	LGOIMA requests received 2017/18	LGOIMA requests received 2018/19
July	7	15
August	10	20
September	16
October	15
November	12
December	14
January	12
February	14
March	12
April	14
May	15
June	18

Total LGOIMA requests received	159	35
Total LGOIMA requests not responded to ≤ 20 working days*	15	0

In August 2018, there were no LGOIMA request that exceeded 20 working days’ response.

There were no submissions lodged under delegated authority during the month of August 2018.

Legislative Compliance Q4

Council undertakes quarterly legislative compliance assessment to ensure council is complying with relevant legislation (as recommended originally by Audit NZ). Council’s legislative compliance monitoring for Quarter 4 has highlighted that council is compliant with all recorded legislative requirements, with one exception:

1. Council is meeting its statutory obligations to implement the Te Hiku Settlement Act by developing Beach Management Plans, however due to non-attendance by two Iwi Authorities, the Beach Board is effectively on hold and the Beach Management Plan will not be developed within statutory timeframes.

7.2.7 Customer Service – Community Resilience

TRANSPORT

Regional Land Transport Planning

National Land Transport Programme 2018/21

The National Land Transport Plan that details the approved funding assistance for all approved authorities for the 2018/2019 funding period was formally released on 31 August 2018.

Staff will be analysing the approved funding for Northland to identify the impact on the region. A report on the outcome will be tabled at the October 2018 Regional Transport Committee meeting

Government Policy Statement Stage 2

With the formal release of the National Land Transport Programme, the government will now commence work on the Government Policy Statement Stage 2. This is required in order to fully realise Government’s direction for transport investment. It includes: -

· Development of a new national road safety strategy;

· Moving towards transport creating a New Zealand where people and business can thrive;

· Considering interventions to significantly improve the affordability of public transport;

· Investigating funding for alternative transport modes such as coastal shipping and rail where it would improve resilience of the transport network;

· Further action to be taken by government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport system; and

· Reflection on any outcomes of the work undertaken to investigate the appropriateness of current evaluation practices;

Passenger Transport Administration

Total Mobility

Total Mobility (TM) figures are reported one month in arrears, as the required information is unavailable at the time of the agenda deadline.

Total clients

Monthly

Actual

Expend

Monthly Budget Expend

Variance

Year/Date

Actual Expend

Year/Date

Budgeted Expend

Variance

July 2018

1392

$17,896

$25,000

-$7,104

$17,896

$25,000

-$7,104

Total Mobility Coordinators meeting

A meeting was held in Wellington on 9^th August 2018 for all TM Coordinators from around the country. The main agenda items were as follows:

· An update on the transition of the Total Mobility Solution and Ridewise 2

· A discussion on potential outcomes of an upcoming review of the present Total Mobility Scheme by the Ministry of Transport. The full scope of this study is yet to be released.

· Regional Issues/clarifications.

Total Mobility Working Group Meeting

A meeting of the local Agencies and Transport Operators took place on 15^th August 2018. The agenda included:-

· An update on the TM Coordination’s national meeting;

· TM importance of clients presenting their TM cards at the beginning of the trip and not at the end as is being practised by some providers;

· A reminder to all TM clients and drivers that there will be no subsidy for return or overly long trips; and

· An update on the progress of the newly appointed service provider.

Contracted Bus Services

Due to the relevant statistics not being available at the required agenda timelines, the Contracted Bus Service figures are reported one month in arrears.

Operational Statistics

July 2018 (revenue ex GST)	Actual	Budget	Variance	Year/Date Actual	Year/Date Budgeted
City Link Passengers	23191	24077	-886	23191	24077
City Link Farebox Revenue	$48,430	$49,754	-$1,324	$48,430	$49,754
Mid North Link Passengers	209	408	-199	209	408
Mid North Link Farebox Revenue	$803	$2,726	-$1,923	$803	$2,660
FarNorth Link Passengers	610	667	-57	610	667
FarNorth Link Farebox Revenue	$1,379	$1,667	-$288	$1,379	$ 1,667
Hokianga Link Passengers	28	30	-2	28	30
Hokianga Link Farebox Revenue	$313	$320	-7	$313	$320

RITS (Regional Integrated Ticketing System) Update

The Citylink fleet has been wired for an “Interim Cash Only System”, which will be in place from October 1st, 2018. A message has been sent to all current Snapper cardholders to fully utilise the balance on their cards prior to this date.

Passengers will be charged a lower fare during the interim cash fare stage to compensate for any inconvenience caused during this period.

The above will coincide with the launch of the increased weekday and Saturday service and the new “Southern Express” route, which will go via Harvey Normans, Kioreroa Rd to Port and back to Rose St.

Road Safety Update

Northland’s road safety has a number of road safety and restraint check-points around the region. In addition, driver mentoring, impaired driver courses and a number of other initiatives have been held.

Radio, Print and Digital road safety messaging is focussing on the key high-risk issues identified for Northland. These being:-

· High risk rural roads;

· Alcohol;

· Motorcycles;

· Speed;

· Young drivers (15 – 24);

· Restraints;

The above includes the development of a video engaging with the public at various locations around Whangarei seeking their awareness of key risk influencers in Northlands road toll. This concept will be repeated in both the Far North & Kaipara areas due to the very positive feedback. https://vimeo.com/282254292/63bff9f397

Key advertising themes by NZTA for August 2018 have centred around ‘Speed & Alcohol’.

The year to date road deaths in Northland stands at 23 with the main contributing factors being:-

· Speed;

· Impairement;

· Seatbelts; and

· Fatigue/Distraction

Regional Road Toll Statistics – 2018 & 2017 Comparison

Location	YTD 2018	YTD 2017
Far North	9	14
Whangarei	12	6
Kaipara	2	3
Northland	23	23
National	241	248

The ages of those involved in the death related crashes are: -

0 – 14yrs	1
15 – 19yrs	0
20 – 24yrs	5
25 – 39yrs	5
40 – 59yrs	7
60 + yrs	5

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Performance Statistics

Telephones

Telephone data from our 0800 lines was not available at the time of reporting. Calls through the direct lines suggest similar volumes to last month. The conversion rate for incoming calls on the direct lines continues at the high rate of 99.2%.

Satisfaction Monitoring

Satisfaction monitoring was conducted in regional offices and in response to hotline incidents. Satisfaction remains high with almost all surveyed being partially or fully satisfied. There was one instance of high dissatisfaction with our regional office service, and subsequently with our monitoring team, which has been included in the complaints section.

Feedback Cards, Compliments and Complaints

Two compliments were registered in August, one for consents and the other for land management. Both complemented quality of service and helpfulness of staff.

Twenty-two rates related enquiries were received. Most were satisfied with the explanations given, and three were dissatisfied. Of the three still dissatisfied, only one directly related to the overall increase, one ‘didn’t believe in paying for clean rivers’ and the third was unhappy when directed to WDC for a rebate. The enquiries can be broadly classified as follows;

General complaint/enquiry about increase	5
General enquiry unrelated in increase	7
Confused Freshwater Rate with TA drinking water rates	4
Clarification sought on targeted rates	2
Specifically questioned why they should pay Awanui flood rate	2
Misc – bed taxes, unwillingness to pay for clean river etc.	2

During August four general complaints received, including one customer who complained twice. The customer was dissatisfied with our response to a smoke incident. In total eight staff and contractors were involved in the response in some way which was made more difficult by the incident reporter both exaggerating the size of the incident and not providing sufficient information to be able to locate the site. One complaint involved a miscommunication over staff availability, and the final compliant was about a late bus.

Activity

Regional Customer Service Centres (CSC)

Kaitāia Office

Interior painting has been completed, leaving only the fitting of the glass wall to the front interview room and final touches to finish the project. Additional workstations have been ordered to increase the hot desk capacity to allow more staff to be accommodated either part or full time.

Waipapa

Improved signage has raised the visibility of the office but not translated in to increased foot traffic. The office continues to be a busy base for staff. Through hot-desking we are able to provide sufficient workspaces to meet current demand, although, with staff increases this may not be possible going forward. The lack of storage space for equipment and especially pest products is a restriction and an off-site would ease pressure.

Ōpua Office

Although mooring payments were due, the trial to operate Ōpua without a Customer Services Officer (CSO) received only one instance of negative feedback. However, during the trial it was apparent there is value in having someone in the office as a go-to for the movements and availability of maritime staff. The introduction of a virtual contact centre by the end of the year will allow us to utilise our CSO to the benefit of phone and the few walk-in customers, whilst retaining institutional expertise.

MARITIME

The Navigational Safety Bylaw Infringement schedule is still before the Parliamentary Council Office with a final draft expected in the first week of September. It will require a final review from the Harbourmaster’s office before being submitted to the Minister for consideration and lodging.

A staff member attended the Senior Regional Responders course at Te Atatu earlier in the month. The course covers theory up to Regional On Scene Commander level and is a more in depth look at the legislative, planning, strategy and tasking aspects associated with an oil spill event with an aim to be able to directly assist the on scene commander and supervise smaller task groups during an oil spill response.

A National Oil Spill Response Team exercise is scheduled to be held in Opua for the 27^th of September

The second bi-annual Northern Harbour Masters Conference will be held in Hamilton on the 12^th and 13^th of September.

Mooring tagging operations are ongoing with Houhora, Whangaruru and One Tree Point being completed over the month of August.

The Super Tanker Tilos had her arrival into Marsden Point postponed after experiencing extended problems with her main engine. The ship was directed by the Harbourmaster to remain at anchor until a report had been submitted outlining what the cause and solution to the issues were. The vessel was boarded while at anchor by technicians who subsequently determined that the issues had been caused by contaminated bunkers. On changing over her fuel supply internally and flushing her fuel system the issues were resolved. The Tilos weighed anchored and conducted successful pre-arrival main engine trials under observation from both the Pilot and Deputy Harbourmaster. The pilotage and berthing were executed without further issue.

Eroads transponders have now been fitted to the vessels Ruawai and Mangapai and can be monitored through the buddy system while on the water. The Karetu is also booked in to receive a transponder and is awaiting availability of the technician to have it fitted.

Electronic Berthing charts have been released by Linz for Marsden Point, and are now operational.

Work is on-going towards a regional council owned consent for continued maintenance dredging of the Hatea River.

August has been a quiet month with only 8 incidents received, the most notable being the sinking of a launch in Tutukaka. The vessel was salvaged without incident through the owner’s insurance.

CIVIL DEFENCE AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Warnings and activations

No weather watches or warnings have been issued during August for the Northland region. A national tsunami advisory – no threat to New Zealand was issued at 6.10 pm on 29 August after a 7.1 m earthquake near the Loyalty Islands.

No further CDEM activations were required.

Ministerial review

The Governments response to the Technical Advisory Group’s report Better responses to natural disasters and other emergencies was released on 28 August by

the Minister of Civil Defence, Hon Kris Faafoi.

The Government’s response addresses the Technical Advisory Group’s recommendations, and sets out a multi-year work programme that will deliver extensive change to New Zealand’s emergency response system. This will improve how New Zealand responds to natural disasters and other emergencies in five key areas:

• Putting the safety and wellbeing of people at the heart of the emergency response system

• Strengthening the national leadership of the emergency management system

• Making it clear who is responsible for what, nationally and regionally

• Building the capability and capability of the emergency management workforce

• Improving the information and intelligence system that supports decision making in emergencies

The Northland CDEM Group and CEG held their usual quarterly meetings on 4 September. The contents of the above report were briefly discussed, and a more detailed analysis of the report will be made available in due course.

Operational GIS Viewer

The development of an operational GIS viewer to assist in response in Civil Defence emergencies is progressing and an outline of the final product has been developed.

On call arrangements

A single on-call Duty Officer and a single on-call Controller to act for all CDEM related matters (i.e. alerting, warning, initial actions and response) outside of normal business hours for the Northland region commenced on 1 September. This arrangement modifies the existing on-call rosters and strengthens the existing CDEM Group on-call arrangement across the whole region. A Group Controller and Duty person will now be available for on call matters 24/7.

Audience	Tactic
General public	Digital and print advertising; promotional video; radio promotion; media releases; e-news pieces; presence at markets and events.
Iwi/hapū	Presentation/discussion with TTMAC and Māori Technical Advisory Group; panui to iwi/hapū contacts
Catchment groups	Catchment group meetings; email mailout
Interested stakeholders	Email mailout
Councillors, staff	Council meetings / workshops; intranet; staff room display

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Do not consult – just finalise targets with no feedback / input from the community	Avoids costs of consultation.	· Community may have desire to comment. · May mean key recreational sites are not identified.
2	Use traditional consultation methods (e.g. mailout)	Reaches those with limited access to digital technology.	· Online tool far more efficient. · Unlikely to receive the same number of responses. · Likely to miss much of the target audience. · Staff time and costs (approximately $10,000).
3	Consult using online map based tool	Larger reach. Ease / convenience for public.	Staff time and costs (approximately $10,000 – includes advertising and promotions).

High Value Area	Strategic / Project Plan	Working Group	Terms of Reference
Bay of Islands	Yes - To be finalised	In development	In development
Tutukaka	Drafted	In development	In development
Whangārei Heads	Yes	Yes	Yes - Review required
Kai Iwi Lakes	Drafted	No - Existing management	N/A
Mangawhai / Waipū	Yes - To be finalised	In development	In development

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Council approves the establishment of High Value Area Pest Management Working Groups and working group terms of reference template	Local working groups will ensure local decision making for operational plans and strategies.	Nil
2	Council does not approve the establishment of High Value Area Pest Management Working Groups and working group terms of reference template	Nil	A different process will need to be developed.

TITLE:	Health and Safety Report
ID:	A1105197
From:	Tracey Warboys, Health and Safety Specialist

Name:	Dave Tams
Title:	Group Manager, Corporate Excellence
Date:	10 September 2018

TITLE:	Confirmation of Minutes - 13 August 2018, 21 August 2018, 28 August 2018, and 5 September 2018
ID:	A1103224
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Name:	Chris Taylor
Title:	Governance Support Manager
Date:	30 August 2018

TITLE:	Council Action Sheet - September 2018
ID:	A1106479
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

TITLE:	Working Party Updates and Chairpersons' Briefings
ID:	A1107328

Name:	Colin Dall
Title:	Group Manager - Regulatory Services
Date:	11 September 2018

Name:	Bruce Howse
Title:	Group Manager - Environmental Services
Date:	05 September 2018

TITLE:	Financial Report to 31 August 2018
ID:	A1106125
From:	Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant

TITLE:	Meetings Calendar 2019
ID:	A1105320
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Name:	Jonathan Gibbard
Title:	Group Manager - Governance and Engagement
Date:	11 September 2018

TITLE:	Proposed Water Quality Consultation
ID:	A1104447
From:	Justin Murfitt, Resource Management Planning and Policy Manager

TITLE:	Emissions Trading Scheme Review - Draft Submissions
ID:	A1105520
From:	Justin Murfitt, Resource Management Planning and Policy Manager

TITLE:	Mediterranean fanworm response - Opua
ID:	A1106536
From:	Sophia Clark, Biosecurity Manager - Marine and Strategy

TITLE:	Biosecurity High Value Areas - Establishment of new Collaborative Community Engagement Groups
ID:	A1106716
From:	Kane McElrea, Biosecurity Manager - Partnerships and Strategy and Don McKenzie, Biosecurity Manager

TITLE:	Chair's Report to Council
ID:	A1103220
From:	Bill Shepherd, Chairman

TITLE:	Receipt of Committee Minutes
ID:	A1103770
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager