Agenda of Council Meeting - Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Council Meeting item: 8.3

22 February 2022

TITLE:	Chief Executive’s Report to Council
From:	Malcolm Nicolson, Tumuaki - Chief Executive Officer
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Malcolm Nicolson, Tumuaki - Chief Executive Officer, on

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommendation

That the report ‘Chief Executive’s Report to Council’ by Malcolm Nicolson, Tumuaki - Chief Executive Officer and dated 20 January 2022, be received.

8.3.1 Highlights

Whangarei Heads High Value Area

Success! Owhiwa Landcare (near Pārua Bay) are proudly celebrating a huge milestone – the hatch of the first known kiwi chick to released kiwi in the area. Named ‘Kotahi’ (‘The First’) it is hoped this is the first of many chicks to come now that kiwi released into the area have begun breeding successfully thanks to years of intensive predator control and great dog control by local landowners and hunters.

Kotahi nestling in front of
his father Chookie

The milestone was reported in local media here:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/northland-kiwi-conservationists-celebrate-christmas-miracle-first-chick-hatches-in-whangarei-heads/WNKGVQOKY7DKMEKOTTXSR7HBTQ/

Experiencing Marine Reserves marine pest education events

The Marine Biosecurity team ran three engagement events with Experiencing Marine Reserves in December and January. The partnership between Council and Experiencing Marine Reserves is working to develop an ongoing collaboration in the marine biosecurity space, engaging young rangatahi who are passionate about the ocean to keep an eye out for any invasive marine pests when they are in the water. The engagement included staff providing marine pest stalls at the Experiencing Marine Reserves summer series snorkel event at Reotahi and Oneroa Bay in Russell. The events provided a great opportunity for staff to educate the public about what we do in the marine biosecurity space, as well as the wider efforts happening around the region and how they can get involved in protecting our marine environment.

Additionally, staff also held a formal pest identification workshop at council for 13 Experiencing Marine Reserves volunteers. The events had a positive outcome with numerous students, volunteers and adults interested to learn more about marine biosecurity in our local area and a strong willingness to understand how they can help.

A marine biosecurity team member discusses marine pests with an Experiencing Marine Reserves snorkel participant.

8.3.2 CEO’s Office

Current Legal Proceedings

Department	Description	Status
Consent decision appeal	Two separate consent applications for replacement and new consents relating to a proposed expansion of, Doug’s Opua Boat Yard in Walls Bay, Ōpua	The council and applicant are preparing an agreed set of conditions that will resolve the appeal. A draft Consent Order will then be filed with the Court for its consideration.
Consent decision appeal	Irrigation of avocado orchards and horticulture crops	An Environment Court hearing date is set down for two weeks starting on 9 May 2022. Hydrogeology and ecology experts for parties have produced joint witness statements. The Applicant’s evidence is due in late February, however, all parties are working towards resolving the appeal if possible.

8.3.3 CORPORATE SERVICES

Cyber Security

Keeping ahead of security activity is consuming an increasing amount of organisational resource. The security systems detected one policy breach with a user uploading potentially sensitive documents during the month which has been addressed.

Strengthened policies were deployed during October and November to limit access to non-business sites. During December a significant increase in the number of policies triggered was recorded (721 to 3983). This is providing greater protection to council’s technology systems.

Fraud Declaration

The two previously reported fraud investigations have concluded with both investigations finding no evidence of fraudulent activities.

Enterprise System Update

· Timeline – Milestones not yet baselined, Supplier provided high level plan (28 Jan), further details to be added to confirm key milestone dates (due mid-February 2022)

· Budget – Tracking under budget

· Quality – Tracking to expectations

Council Property Update

· Fleet: In line with council’s recently approved vehicle fleet policy, five full electric vehicles have now replaced older ones in council’s fleet. A further five hybrids are on order for delivery March 2022 to replace existing diesel vehicles.

· Kaipara Service Centre: Site progress has centred largely around internal cladding, services, and internal linings. Overall, the project team are seeing increased contractors on site, sometimes up to 40-plus people, which is generally a positive sign of the increased engagement with the works. The project has Practical Completion of 31 March 2022 and opening ceremony in the first few weeks of April 2022, COVID-19 willing. The project team have been informed of council’s decision to increase the solar power generation and this is now in hand.

· NIWA Kingfish RAS project: has completed initial ground preparation and poured concrete for the first fish tank bases. Offshore equipment procurement is progressing.

8.3.4 regulatory services

Consents in Process

During December 2021 and January 2022, a total of 189 Decisions were issued. These decisions comprised:

December 2021 (114)		January 2022 (75)
Ÿ Coastal Permits	44	Ÿ Moorings	4
Ÿ Land Discharge Permits	14	Ÿ Coastal Permits	6
Ÿ Land Use Consents	46	Ÿ Air Discharge Permits	1
Ÿ Water Permits	7	Ÿ Land Discharge Permits	24
Bore Consents	3	Land Use Consents	35
		Ÿ Water Permits	3
		Ÿ Bore Consents	2

The processing timeframes for the December 2021 consents ranged from:

Ÿ 724 to 6 calendar days, with the median time being 41 days;

Ÿ 473 to 3 working days, with the median time being 26 days.

The processing timeframes for the January 2022 consents ranged from:

Ÿ 469 to 6 calendar days, with the median time being 64 days;

Ÿ 25 to 4 working days, with the median time being 20 days.

Fifty-one applications were received in December 2021.

Eighteen applications were received in January 2022.

Of the 102 applications in progress at the end of January 2022:

Ÿ 25 were received more than 12 months ago;
Reasons for being more than 12 months old:
- Awaiting additional information (including CIAs)	11
- Consultation with affected parties/stakeholders	3
- On-hold pending new rules becoming operative	5
- Other	6
Ÿ 13 were received between 6 and 12 months ago (most awaiting further information from the applicant);
Ÿ 64 less than 6 months.

Appointment of Hearing Commissioners

No commissioners were appointed in December 2021 and January 2022.

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

The current level of notified application processing activities at the end of January 2022 is (by number):

Ÿ Applications Publicly/Limited Notified During Previous Month	1
Ÿ Progress on Applications Previously Notified	3
Ÿ Hearings and Decisions	0
Ÿ Appeals/Objections	2

COMPLIANCE MONITORING

The results of compliance monitoring for the period 1 December 2021 - 31 January 2022 (and year-to-date figures) are summarised in the following table and discussed below.

Classification	Total	Full compliance	Low risk non-compliance	Moderate non-compliance	Significant non-compliance	Not exercised during period
Air Discharge	51	48	1	1	0	1
Bore Consent	120	69	43	8	0	0
Coastal Air Discharge	5	5	0	0	0	0
Coastal Discharge	42	39	0	1	2	0
Coastal Permit	68	49	12	6	0	1
FDE – Discharge Permit	1	0	0	0	1	0
FDE – Permitted Activity	0	0	0	0	0	0
Land Discharge	162	135	11	6	1	9
Land Use Consent	93	84	5	2	0	2
Water Discharge	89	61	14	11	3	0
Water Permit	77	73	3	0	0	1
Water Take	114	74	20	14	0	6
Total	822	637	109	49	7	20
Percentage		77.5%	13.3%	6.0%	0.9%	2.4%
Year to date	3553	2699	428	255	48	123
Percentage		76.0%	12.0%	7.2%	1.4%	3.5%

Coastal

Marina bacteriological monitoring was delayed due to rainfall and unreliable laboratory or courier services. Annual seabed sediment compliance monitoring has been completed along upper Hatea River (Town Basin Marina, Kissing Point Marina, Riverside Drive Marina) and Norsand Boatyard, Port Nikau Marina and Marsden Cove Marina.

Coastal structure permit inspections were completed at Whangaroa, Taipa, Totara North and Hokianga.

Farm dairy effluent (FDE) monitoring

Annual FDE inspections commenced on 21 July 2021 and were concluded on 29 November 2021. NRC staff and the FDE contractor visited a total of 757 farms this monitoring season (32 less than last year). Comparisons between this season’s results with those for last season are shown in the tables below.

Consented farms (total 575)

Full Compliance		Moderate Non-Compliance		Significant Non-Compliance
This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year
467	398	90	136	18	62
81%	67%	16%	23%	3%	10%

Non-consented farms (total 182)

Full Compliance		Moderate Non-Compliance		Significant Non-Compliance
This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year
137	142	36	29	9	22
75%	74%	20%	15%	5%	11%

There was a considerable decrease in the number of farms graded as significantly non-compliant this season (4% this season compared with 11% last season). This is partly attributed to significant non-compliances with silage leachate or dead stock rules not being included in this season’s FDE statistics. The statistics only cover farm dairy effluent compliance, which is in line with nationally agreed protocols for reporting of farm dairy effluent statistics. Even with the change to reporting, the comparatively low level of significant non-compliance is still a very good outcome. The Primary Industries monitoring team will be working closely with all the significantly non-compliant farmers to further improve the situation.

While undertaking this year’s FDE monitoring, where possible, relevant regulations of the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NES-F) and other rules in the Proposed Regional Plan (PRP) pertaining to farming activities were checked on each dairy farm.

This highlighted the following:

· There are 102 farms with feedpads within 50 metres of a waterbody which do not meet the permitted activity separation distance criterion in the NES-F.

· There are no dairy farms which fall under the intensive winter grazing regulation in the NES-F.

· There are 178 dairy farms which have a silage storage area/bunker within 50 metres of a waterbody which do not meet the permitted activity separation distance criterion in the PRP.

· There are 24 dairy farms which have a silage storage area/bunker within 20 metres of a public road, which do not meet the permitted activity separation distance criterion in the PRP.

The Primary Industries monitoring team is working with dairy farmers to address the above, where required.

Water, Waste, Air and Land Use (WWALU) Compliance Monitoring

Ÿ Contaminated Land Management

December 2021

Six incidents involving the discharge of hazardous substances and 17 enquiries regarding contaminated land were received and responded to. 450 kg of hazardous waste was disposed of at the amnesty day and 25 sites were added to the Selected Land-Use Register.

January 2022

Four incidents involving the discharge of hazardous substances and 16 enquiries regarding contaminated land were received and responded to. 390 kg of hazardous waste was disposed of at the amnesty day and 7 sites were added to the Selected Land-Use Register.

· Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

WWTP/Consent Status	Issues	Enforcement Action/Response
Far North District
Ahipara Expires 2033	Ongoing non-compliance with bacteriological consent limits	Under AN FNDC investigating land disposal options
Hihi Expires 2022	None recently	None currently
Kaeo Expires 2022	None recently	None currently
Kaikohe Expired 30 November 2021	Intermittent non-compliances with ADW flow, ammonia & bacteriological consent limits. System overdue for de-sludging	None currently Issues will be addressed in replacement consent
Kaitāia Expired 30 November 2021	None recently	Under AN (reticulation overflows) Issues will be addressed in replacement consent
Kawakawa Expires 2036	None recently	None currently
Kerikeri Expires 2036	No obvious issues from new plant (commissioned in December 2020)	Under AN – but is currently complying with notice
Kohukohu Expired 2016 (replacement consent application on hold)	Occasional issues with bacteriological conditions of consent	None currently
Opononi & Omāpere Expired 2019	Non-compliances with bacteriological consent limits Desludging overdue	Under AN Issues will be addressed in replacement consent; desludging to be undertaken
Paihia Expires 2034	Plant upgraded 2019; alkalinity issues preventing optimal ammonia treatment	None currently Alkalinity improvement project still in progress
Rangiputa Expires 2032	None recently	None currently
Rāwene Expires 2023	System overdue for de-sludging	INs issued in February 2022 to FNDC’s contractor for sewage spill from the Rawene reticulation system
Russell Expires 2024	Occasional non-compliances with E. coli consent limit post UV	Under AN
Taipā Expires 2029	None recently	None currently
Whatuwhiwhi Expires 2025	Elevated TSS levels (consent limit may be unnecessarily restrictive)	FNDC to seek consent variation to address TSS levels – low priority
Whangarei District
Hikurangi Expires 2025	Intermittent issues with plant performance	None currently Plant performance being reviewed to identify improvements
Ngunguru Expires 2035	None recently	None currently
Oakura Expires 2025	Occasional spikes in E. coli	None currently
Portland Expires 2024	None recently	None currently
Ruakaka Expires 2046	None recently	None currently
Tutukaka Expires 2024	None recently	None currently
Waiōtira Expires 2030	None recently	None currently
Waipū Expires 2030	None recently	None currently
Whāngārei City Expires 2022	None recently	None currently
Kaipara District
Dargaville Expires 2022	Non-compliances with WQ discharge volume consent limits	Pond desludged in 2020 to mitigate water quality issues and the most recent sample results show improvement
Glinks Gully Expires 2024	No recent issues	None currently
Kaiwaka Expires 2022	No recent issues	None currently
Mangawhai Expires 2042	Odour complaints associated with the land irrigation and occasional exceedances of TDS consent limit	AN and IN issued in relation to the odour problem
Maungaturoto Expires 2032	Intermittent non-compliances, generally due to high rainfall	Under AN
Te Kopuru Expires 2044	Intermittent minor non-compliances	Second aerator installed 2020

Environmental Incidents

There were no environmental incidents reported in December and January which resulted in a significant environmental impact.

ENFORCEMENT

Abatement Notices, Infringement Notices and Formal Warnings

Action Type	Number
Abatement Notice	25
Infringement Notice	8

Other Enforcement

Ÿ Earthworks without erosion and sediment controls – Tōtara North

Charges were laid in the Kaitaia District Court on 20 July 2020 against an individual for earthworks undertaken without controls, and work within a watercourse and the riparian management zone. The defendant has pleaded not guilty. A hearing was scheduled for 22-24 June 2021 which did not proceed due to the defendant being ill. Information has now been provided regarding the medical condition of the defendant. The case has been adjourned for parties to discuss options.

Ÿ Open burning on industrial/trade property – Whangārei

Charges were laid in the Whangārei District Court on 27 November 2020 against an individual for open burning on industrial/trade premises; the burnt items also included prohibited items. There are two charges against the individual who pleaded not guilty on 30 April 2021. A case review hearing was completed on 22 June 2021. A hearing date was scheduled for 4 November 2021 which did not proceed and we are currently waiting for the Court to set a new date.

Ÿ Farm dairy effluent – Parapara

Charges were laid in the Kaitaia District Court on 6 May 2021 against a farm owner for offences which occurred in August 2020. There are four charges against the farm owner. The first court appearance was set down for 9 July 2021, which was adjourned until 25 August 2021 to allow the defence lawyer to consider the disclosure documentation. The judge at the hearing on the 17 January 2022 requested further information from the defence lawyer. The case has now been adjourned until 21 February 2022.

· Vessel occupying CMA and removal of asbestos from CMA – Town Basin, Whangārei

An enforcement order was applied for on 23 November 2021 against an individual for occupying the coastal marine with a boat without consent, and for reimbursement of costs associated with work to remove and dispose of cladding material containing asbestos that had been deposited with the coastal marine area. A joint memorandum was filed on 22 December 2021 recording that the respondent agrees to the enforcement order requiring compliance with permitted activity Rule C.1.2.1 of the Proposed Regional Plan to legally moor the boat; and seeking further time to negotiate settlement of the costs claim. No response yet from the Court.

· Earthworks and vegetation clearance within a wetland – Teal Bay

Charges were laid in the Whangarei District Court on 7 December 2021 against four parties for offences that occurred in December 2021. First appearance date is scheduled for 14 February 2022, an administrative adjournment will be sought to allow time for disclosure to be considered.

8.3.4 regulatory services

LAND MANAGEMENT

Sustainable Hill Country and Regional Priorities

Milestones	Status
Soil Conservation Plans	36 (26%) of 136 soil conservation plans have been completed in 2021-22.

Poplar and Willow nursery

Objective	Status
Nursery expansion	Business case for the nursery expansion complete. Recommendations to be workshopped with Councillors in February.

Whangārei Urban Awa Project

The project has been running well, with the Q2 report having been submitted to MfE on schedule.

Key points:

· 2.38 kms of fencing completed across 5 properties (total of 5.8km planned for the year)

· Million Metres funding has reached $12,005.97.

· Landowner engagement/interest has diminished relative to Y1. We are well on track to meet our fencing requirements for the year. However, demand for planting has been light to date.

· On track against the Y2 budget.

· We are working with the comms team to improve landowner engagement and will likely send out a pamphlet in the next few weeks.

Waimā Waitai Waiora Partnership

The groups and organisations involved in the partnership of waimā, waitai, waiora (www) have now combined to plant over 350,000 trees in and around the northern kaipara catchment area. Alongside the trees, over 8700 meters of fencing was established on farms throughout the area in 2021.

Over $37,000 was raised last year via our collaboration with the sustainable business network’s million metres streams project, with funds being donated by various businesses, community groups, and even some generous individual donors.

Despite COVID-19 restrictions, a number of successful events were held by www last year, including research wānanga, community planting days, plant releasing, fish monitoring, water monitoring, and more. The community planting days in particular would not have been possible without the support of local groups, specifically tangata whenua and marae based roopu. The support of such groups has been instrumental in ensuring www is closer to its goal of planting 360,000 trees by the end of this year.

Partnering with mana i te whenua and both national and local authorities has led to more robust decision-making processes, more meaningful outcomes, and continued support for the kaupapa from local residents. The partnership and the mahi being done has also enabled local groups and residents to begin building trust in the partnership and those involved.

The partnership has continued to provide quality information and support to landowners throughout the northern kaipara catchment area via a range of channels and mediums. One such channel is the www website, which was launched around the middle of last year. The site continues to provide up-to-date information and resources for landowners wanting to implement sustainable practices on their land.

Whilst the obvious challenges involved with partnerships including so many parties have presented themselves, the partnership has continually found a way to push forward towards the common goal of restoring the mauri of the northern wairoa river.

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Whakaahua 1 working together with Living Waters and Hapū to undertake a native fish survey in the Hikurangi Repo.

BIODIVERSITY

FIF Dune Lakes Project

Objective	Status
Aquatic weed and pest fish control	Post treatment submerged plant monitoring was undertaken at Lakes Tutaki, Egg (Poutō) and Mt Camel North (Houhora). These lakes have been treated for hornwort with Reglone which is a cost-effective option for reducing weed volume. After two ¼ lake treatments Tutaki has shown an excellent knockback at more than 90% of the weed volume. Treatment of these lakes with Aquathol K is planned for late summer and autumn. Biodiversity freshwater staff met on site in the new year with the Te Uri o Hau Incorporation who own the land around Lake Karaka, a large, high value lake at Poutō where hornwort has been found. If left this weed will increase and dominate the entire lake potentially causing its collapse. Mana whenua landowners have given permission for NRC to lead a herbicide operation using Aquathol K to eradicate the pest weed.
Sediment and nutrient mitigation	Nil
Education Days	Staff assisted with a freshwater education day at Lake Waimimiha near Ahipara at a Noho Taiao event organised by Te Rarawa Rūnanga.

Coastcare

Dune health assessments were undertaken in December and January with the Science Team. The aim is to assess the health of the dunes and track changes over time such as changes in percentage native/exotic vegetation and increase/decrease in total plant cover. This helps to get an objective picture of dune damage and track the impact of any dune restoration efforts. Most sites on the schedule are now assessed annually.

Vegetation transects were re-measured at six sites including Ahipara, Taipa and Waipu Cove and new sites set up at Puwheke, Waipapakauri and Marsden Point. The transect data can be viewed and compared to the previous survey results at https://monitoring.coastalrestorationtrust.org.nz/survey-data/northland. Alongside the transect data, drone footage will be used to measure dune topography and track changes over time.

See also report on dune fauna assessments in Natural Resources section.

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Measuring a vegetation transect at Puwheke, Karikari Peninsula

Wetlands

Planning for the fourth, 3-yearly round of wetland condition index (WCI) monitoring has been underway, and the first wetland visits undertaken. This monitoring started in 2011 and covers over 28 wetlands, most of which were fenced under Efund. Monitoring will be carried out over the next few months using the nationally developed methodology which assesses, and scores changes in wetland condition. Feedback is given to landowners by way of letters and management recommendations.

Terrestrial

The first of the biodiversity assessments is underway at the NRC forestry block at Tāika / Mt Tiger, with acoustic recorders set out to detect the presence of bats and tracking tunnels for pests in the north-western block of the forest. These will be rotated around the remaining forest over the next few weeks. Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research is advising on sites for plots for vegetation assessments.

NATURAL RESOURCES

Coastal/Water Quality Operations

· The annual Hātea awa clean up comprised of 25 NRC staff who collected 340kgs of rubbish.

· The monitored beaches in Northland have been live on Safeswim since December as a trial this summer.

· Non-telemetered continuous dissolved oxygen sensors have been installed at 19 sites and are being validated monthly by the team as part of the ecosystem metabolism monitoring programme.

· The continuous water quality sites have been validated monthly. The sonde at Tikinui Wharf has suffered corrosion which compromised the probes. The decision was made to pause data collection as investment would be needed to replace the sonde at this site while a data review of the site is completed.

Natural Resources Science

· The Science and Rivers teams have partnered on an open tender process for purchasing a high-resolution GIS-based digital river network (DRN) model. The tender was advertised on GETS on 17 December 2021, closing on 1 February 2022.

Air quality and carbon emission

No breach of National Environmental Standard for air quality (NESAQ) for PM₁₀has occurred in 2021. PM_2.5 results were also within the proposed NESAQ limits.

The Ministry for the Environment and Statistics NZ released Our Air 2021 in
December 2021. The report evaluated monitoring results against two standards or guidelines – National Environmental Standard for air quality (NESAQ) and World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality guidelines to indicate potential impacts on human health. In summary the report findings for Northland are;

· PM₁₀ concentrations at Whangārei airshed, Robert Street have improved between 2011 and 2020. The PM₁₀ concentration trend confirms the findings of PM₁₀ emission inventory produced by PDP (reported in October 2021). The emission inventory found that Whangārei’s winter day PM₁₀ emission decreased approximately by 27 percent from 2006 to 2018. This is due to no new major PM₁₀ emission sources having been consented in that period in the airshed and two major consented industries (Ballance Fertiliser and Carter Holt Harvey mills) ceasing their operation during this period. Other factors such as the backyard burning rule implemented in 2008 and improved wood burners on new buildings, together with increased use of electrical heating appliances, may have also contributed towards the improving trend in PM₁₀ concentration.

· On one occasion between 2017 and 2020, the daily PM₁₀ concentration at Whangārei airshed was higher than the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines.

· Ninety five percent of New Zealand’s PM_2.5 air monitoring sites, including Whangārei airshed recorded PM_2.5 concentrations above the 24-hour (15 µg/m³) and annual (5 µg/m³) 2021 WHO air quality guidelines.

· No similar trend was observed for PM₁₀ concentrations at Marsden Point airshed.

Coastal

Stormwater litter project

· The quarterly audit of the stormwater litter traps found a total of 7,204 items captured in the 51 litter traps in the three months period. This is a 23% increase on the number of items captured in the previous quarterly audit.

· Cigarette butts were again the most frequently captured item, with 2200 cigarette butts found (31% of all items), followed by fragments of soft plastic (1,577 items). Overall, the dominant source of litter was plastic (72%).

· Once again there were big differences between locations. A transport/logistics site in Whangārei had 1075 items, while a residential street in Dargaville had just six items. The worst five sites were: a transport and logistics site (1075 items); Lower Dent Street car park, in Whangārei (872 items); Mangawhai village shops (346 items); Whangārei hospital car park (328 items); and a food retailing site (298 items).

· Overall, a total of 17,574 litter items have been captured by the 51 Litter Traps across the region since December 2020. The data collected so far indicates that transport and logistic sites, loading bays, food retailing, car parks and playgrounds are high risk locations for litter and plastic. In contrast, residential areas, professional and commercial land uses, and accommodation providers appear to be low risk.

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Stormwater grate at Lower Dent Street carpark, in Whangārei.

Freshwater ecology

· Organised and hosted a joint electrofishing training seminar, provided by Smith-Root USA, with the Department of Conservation, Te Roroa, and local kaitiaki.

· Initiated fish monitoring and the revitalised riverine ecology monitoring programmes.

· Preliminary attributes and methodologies have been identified for ecological monitoring under the Drought Management Plan.

Freshwater quality

· Envirolink Tools project - A two-day workshop was attended in December 2021 to discuss on a nationally consistent protocol for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of riverine flow management under NPS-FM. The Tools project is led by NIWA and Cawthron scientists and includes feedback and local experience from regional council experts. The project is aimed at providing a national framework for effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation of instream ecological response to riverine flow management by regional councils, in accordance with the NPS-FM.

· The work under National Environmental Monitoring Standard (NEMS) for sampling planktonic cyanobacteria is in progress. This work is jointly led by selected SWIM (Regional Sector Special Interest Group on integrated freshwater Management) members from regional councils including NRC, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Environment Canterbury and Otago Regional Council. The draft protocol written by NIWA algae expert Karl Safi is expected to be ready by June 2022.

Natural Resources Data

· The Kieco biological database is now operational for periphyton, macroinvertebrate and sediment accumulation data. The estuary monitoring component will be operational by February 2022.

Hydrology

Rainfall

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· January rainfall averaged across the entire Northland region was about 43% of the normal expected.

· Much of the region was below 40%, with the least rainfall along the West Coast, the Southeast, and Northeast. Kai iwi recorded 5%, Pouto 10%, Hakaru 9% and Oruru 11%.

· The East Coast received more rain with 101% in Kerikeri, and 120% at Marsden Point.

· Rainfall totals show the same pattern with a regional average of 33.6mm compared to the normal expected 79mm for the month

· Kai iwi and Pouto along the West Coast recorded the least with 4mm and 6.5m respectively.

· Thunderstorms brought more rain to the East with 101mm recorded in Kerikeri.

Rivers

· River flows in the Far North and Eastern catchments are mostly in the Normal to Above Normal percentile ranges, with some rivers falling below normal.

· River Flows in Central, Western and Southern catchments are mostly Below Normal to Low percentile ranges.

· These flow ranges reflect the rainfall distribution pattern for January.

Groundwater

Groundwater levels throughout the Region remain in the Normal to Above Normal percentile ranges, except for Russell which is Below Normal for January.

Hydrology Projects

· Hydrometric station hardware upgrades continue.

Summary of the NIWA Seasonal Climate Outlook February 2022 – April 2022 for Northland

· La Nina conditions are highly likely to continue, elevating the risk of atmospheric rivers and ex-tropical cyclones, which can bring heavy rainfall and increase the risk of flooding.

· Temperatures are very likely to be above average (70% chance).

· Rainfall totals are about equally likely to be near normal (40% chance) to above normal (35% chance).

· Soil moisture levels and river flows are most likely to be near normal (45% chance).

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POLICY AND PLANNING

Proposed Regional Plan

· The Environment Court approved the process for mapping of Outstanding Natural Landscapes in the CMA (17 January). The first step in the process is to work with MTAG to select a Maori cultural landscape facilitator.

· Council are due to report to the Environment Court on the outcome of any inter-party discussions on Topic 14 – Marine Protected Areas by 11 February.

· The Environment Court has set a hearing date for the appeals on the aquaculture provision (19 September 2022).

· Council are required to report back to the Environment Court by 18 February on the implications of the High Court decision regarding the application of the ‘rules’ in the Freshwater National Environment Standard on the Proposed Regional Plan mangrove removal and vehicles on beaches rules.

· There are a number of matters we are waiting on an Environment Court decision (i.e. hearing already held) released:

o Discharges to land and water

o Land use and disturbance activities

o Livestock exclusion

· In addition to the above, the other outstanding matters which are still progressing (but hope to resolve without the need for hearing) are:

o General provisions and plan structure

o Infrastructure and energy (one policy)

o Damming and diversion of water (two provisions unresolved).

· The budget for the plan appeals is tracking towards approximately a $70,000 deficit by the end of the financial year. By far the biggest cost element is legal. Staff are using the lawyers sparingly, but it is a necessity given the Environment Court process and representing the council’s and community’s interests as best we can. The deficit is likely to be largely offset by savings in other parts of the Policy and Planning team’s budget – in particular the Coastal Occupation Charging Plan Change budget, where only a small amount of the $80,000 budget is likely to be used this year.

Freshwater Plan Change

· An update of the freshwater plan change process and the revised date for notification (now April 2024) was presented to a Council Workshop on 14^th December. Council is keen to see no further extension of the notification date. NRC has set some ‘hard dates’ to complete key pieces of work, to minimise the risk of further slippage in the freshwater plan change process.

· Staff will be presenting to council workshop in early March the draft plan change framework and the results of the modelling the effectiveness and costs of a range of water improvement interventions (e.g. fencing and riparian planting).

· The Primary Sector Liaison Group met on 25 January 2002. Members have provided feedback on the challenges and opportunities for the primary sector with regard to freshwater in Northland. The group has started providing feedback on the Visions/values/objectives component of the draft freshwater plan change framework.

National initiatives and advocacy

Proposed changes to the National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water Drinking Water

An item is included in this agenda recommending a council make a submission.

Discussion document on resource management system reform

An item is included in this agenda recommending a council make a submission.

Taumata Arowai

Taumata Arowai is the regulator of drinking water supplies under the Water Services Act 2021. It is consulting on a series of documents targeted at drinking water suppliers – they include drinking water standards, quality assurance rules, aesthetic values, network environmental performance measures and acceptable solutions for a range of different supplies. Staff have yet to assess these proposals – the consultation closes 28 March 2022. The documents are available here: https://www.taumataarowai.govt.nz/httpste-puna-korero-taumataarowai-govt-nz/

He Waka Eke Noa

He Waka Eke Noa is a partnership project between the agricultural sector, government and Māori to develop a framework to support farmers to measure, manage and reduce agricultural emissions (methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide). The partnership has released a consultation document on options for pricing agricultural emissions targeted at farmers and growers. The options proposed include farm-level levies and a processor-level hybrid option – it also proposes recognizing on farm sequestration that is not rewarded in the ETS (e.g. shelterbelts / riparian planting). The default position if other options are not progressed is the agricultural sector entering the Emissions Trading Scheme (at the processor level). While feedback is sought by 1 March 2022, staff do not propose to lodge a submission on this consultation document due to competing consultation requirements having a higher priority and limited staff capacity. The consultation document is here: https://hewakaekenoa.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Consultation-Document_Final-1.pdf

Submission on Sand Mining Resource Consents

A council submission was lodged on two resource consent applications publicly notified by Auckland Council. The applications were made by McCallum Brothers Ltd for the continuation of sand mining activities off Pakiri Beach adjacent to the regional boundary at Mangawhai. The submission was neutral, seeking that full consideration be given to the significance of Mangawhai sandspit and ensuring that it is not adversely affected by the proposal. The submissions were acknowledged by Auckland Council, but a hearing date has not yet been set.

Mangawhai Central Limited

Council has joined as a Section 274 party to the appeals on the plan change for the development of an integrated residential and commercial precinct at Mangawhai. Council’s concern is ensuring the proposal will be adequately serviced with a reliable water supply. Mediation between the parties was held late last year and a further day on the 13 January. Discussions are ongoing but we are hopeful of reaching a resolution without the need to attend a hearing.

Wetland mapping project

This project is set to update existing wetland maps and help implement the governments Essential Freshwater reforms and is being undertaken in collaboration with the Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme (in Kaipara and Whangarei districts). By June 2023 the desk top wetland mapping (for Kaipara and Whangarei districts) should be complete. In the meantime, staff are considering how best this should be communicated with iwi / hapu and the wider community. Papers will be circulated to future TTMAC and Planning and Regulatory Working Parties providing advice and seeking feedback.

8.3.6 BIOSECURITY

INCURSIONS

Indian ringneck parakeet

Covid-19 pressures and the Christmas holiday period have delayed the Indian ringneck parakeet response near the Brynderwyn’s. It is hoped that Biosecurity New Zealand, the lead agency for the response will be able to make progress in the near future. Council Biosecurity staff have offered to assist with the response and continue to maintain contact with Biosecurity NZ Indian ring-necked parakeets are an exclusion animal pest in Northland and threaten native birds and bats by competing for food and nesting places whilst introducing diseases. 

WILD ANIMAL CONTROL

Russell sika response

Biosecurity staff working around Russell have gained two major landowner consents for the proposed goat control, sika survey, and eventual sika control work.

Staff are awaiting a response from the Department of Conservation regarding the delegation of the Wild Animal Control act powers which will assist the eradication programme.

Deer farm escapes

There have been two deer farm escapes in the last two months.

· Kaiwaka: Six deer escaped from a farm near Kaiwaka after a tree fell on a fence. The farmer has managed to recapture two deer and council is working with him to ensure all deer are accounted for.

· Kamo: Two deer escaped from a location near Kamo through a faulty floodgate. A mail drop and Facebook messages have been fed into the community and both deer have been shot by local hunters.

Unconsented deer farm activity

Two deer farms that do not have the Department of Conservation farming permits have been reported.

· Manganui: Council’s deer response contractor discovered an unpermitted deer farm whilst doing night surveillance. Further investigation has found up to 30 untagged deer on a property in the Manganui catchment. Council is working with the Department of Conservation, Ministry for Primary Industries, OSPRI (Operational Solutions for Primary Industries) and the landowner to destock the farm.

· Paparoa: Acting on information received an unpermitted deer farm has been found in Paparoa. Council is working with the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for Primary Industries to determine how this farm was established and the deer registered on the National NAIT database without a permit to farm.

FRESHWATER

Check, Clean, Dry advocacy programme

The Check, Clean, Dry advocacy programme (aimed at preventing the spread of invasive freshwater pests in Northland) commenced in December. Activities have included:

· Waka ama competitions: Events were attended at Lake Ngatu (22 November) and Lake Manuwai (8 January). Participants were engaged about Check Clean Dry and freshwater pests, and collateral provided.

· Te Rarawa Noho Taiao: An education event held at Lake Waimimiha South around freshwater lakes, fish, and Check Clean Dry for a range of age groups.

· Ōtāria/Moerewa spill way wānanga: This workshop centred around providing education to the hapū around freshwater lakes, rivers, biodiversity, and biosecurity. A presentation including freshwater pests and their identification was included with a segment on the importance of Check Clean Dry when going between waterways.

· Taharoa Domain lake side advocacy: Advocacy at the Kai iwi lakes included engagement with members of the public both at the boat ramp and the camping grounds. Collateral was provided to the Kai iwi Lakes campground office for the public, and the campground manager and harbour master were also briefed on Check Clean Dry so they can do their own advocacy.

Pest freshwater fish

The Biosecurity and Biodiversity team have a new dinghy to help with pest fishing work and a new net decontamination tank for cleaning fishing nets has been set up.

Staff have increased messaging around keeping an eye out for koi carp to holiday makers at Kai Iwi Lake over holiday period through additional signage around the lake, pamphlets at the camp ground office, and messaging on social media.

The new fishing net decontamination tank.

KAURI PROTECTION

Soil sampling and training

Soil sampling of kauri to detect the causal agent Phytophthora agathidicida is in full swing across the region with five sites sampled and 80 samples taken.

The Kauri Protection team have also trained kaitiaki from the Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi O Ngāpuhi Kaitiaki Kauri Team and the Ngāti Rēhia Kauri Sanctuary. The training focused on how to correctly take soil sample to detect P. agathidicida.

Rongoā treatment

Staff have also provided advice and assistance to a roopu to undertake Rongoā treatment of infected kauri located in Pāwarenga.

A council kauri protection staff member
explains the soil sampling process to the
Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi O Ngāpuhi Kaitiaki Kauri team leader.

PARTNERSHIPS

Piroa Brynderwyn High Value Area

Piroa Brynderwyn Landcare has been operating as a steering group for the past four years. During this time the activities have moved from a pest animal and trapping focus to other conservation outcomes including pest plant control, education, and wider biodiversity. Growth in community groups has gone from an original six to more than 30 that vary enormously in size and complexity of the work that they are doing. One of these groups has established themselves as an independent trust.

Funding from Council and local sponsors/donors has been tremendous to get things kicked off, but funding needs and deliverables now require a more formal approach to governance. Hence the decision to establish a formal trust under the Charities Services of Department of Internal Affairs.

Piroa Conservation Trust (PCT) is proposed as the name of the new trust, with the vision:

Te Ao Tūroa: Nature-People Flourishing Together
Ki Uta ki Tai: from the hills to the sea

This vision has been deliberately kept broad. The objectives of the trust drill more specifically into the outcomes sought in the Piroa Brynderwyn Landcare high value area and are underpinned by the 5 year management plan and the recent ecology report with its 10 year roadmap. Pivotal to the formation of a new trust is the intent to work in partnership with iwi/hapū – Te Uri o Hau and Patuharakeke. The resulting partnership agreement sits alongside the trust deed as a mana enhancing agreement. The trustees would be elected from and by the wider steering group – the Piroa Conservation Collective. This group would be similar in composition to the existing PBL steering group.

Tutukaka High Value Area

· Predator control: Cat and mustelid catches over December-January (69) have doubled from the previous two month period. The majority of the catch was taken in the Tutukaka Landcare Rayonnier projects.

· Myrtle rust: Rust has been found on fresh, new growth leaves of a young pōhutukawa at Riverlands (Figure 1). The identification was confirmed by a specialist mycologist. Dozens of other pōhutukawa in the area were checked but were unaffected. More on myrtle rust can be found here https://myrtlerust.org.nz/ and incidences can be reported through iNaturalist.

Myrtle rust on a young pōhutukawa leaves at Riverlands.

Kai Iwi Lakes

The Taharoa Domain (Kai Iwi Lakes) toxin operation was completed with uneaten bait retrieved from bait stations on 6 December 2021. A 7 day wax tag post monitor was carried out prior to Christmas and returned a result of 23% which was slightly above the aim of £20%. The results between years show that possum population numbers quickly recover (and grow) after an operation is completed because of rapid reinvasion from surrounding areas. This highlights that until there is pest control occurring on private land around the lakes that there will be limits to what level of control can be achieved and maintained in the domain.

Wax tag index results from Taharoa Domain toxin operations – 2020 and 2021

Tānekaha Community Pest Control Area

Allen the kiwi has successfully hatched his second nesting in the Tānekaha Community Pest Control Area. The two chicks were microchipped in January under the supervision of Biosecurity staff in January.

The grandchildren of a Tānekaha
Community Pest Control Area landowner
get up close and personal
with one of Allen’s two chicks
during microchipping.

PREDATOR FREE

Predator Free Whangārei

· Possum control: Focus in Whangārei Heads project area has been bait and trap device installation in priority locations. Possum removal will begin in February. As the initial working blocks move into mop up stage, operations will extend further north.

· Community engagement: Engagement with landowners continues, and two hui were conducted with Whangārei Heads hapū to discuss their aspirations and ideas on eradication work. Hapū approval has been obtained to install a third live capture hub at Reotahi. A brief project update submitted to Whangārei Heads Citizens Association which will be published in their February community newsletter

· Trail cameras: Images from trail cameras have been classified with possums present in:

- Working block 1 (Te Whara / Bream Head) – 6% (2 of 32 cameras)

- Working block 2 (Taurikura) – 60% (26 of 43 cameras)

Left: Possum detection (black dots) by trail cameras in the Predator Free Whangārei area between 12-16 August 2021. Where detected, possums have been abundant. Right: Possums caught on trail camera at Taurikura.

Predator Free Pēwhairangi Whānui (Bay of Islands)

Community engagement has included hui with Kororāreka Marae Society, Russell Landcare Trust, and 3B2 Trust at Rāwhiti.

MARINE BIOSECURITY

Hull surveillance

Between the 22 November 2021 and 28 January 2022, the 2021/2022 Hull Surveillance Programme surveyed 494 vessels. There were 29 incidents of Sabella spallanzanii (Mediterranean fanworm), one incident of Styela clava (clubbed tunicate) and one incident of Eudistoma elongatum (Australian droplet tunicate) found on vessel hulls, the majority of which were in Whangārei Harbour. All incidents of pests recorded on vessels outside of infected areas were cleaned within 5 working days either in-water by an approved dive contractor or by owner directed haul outs. Marine biosecurity staff continue to work closely with vessels in infected harbours to ensure they are cleaned within an appropriate time frame or before they move to another harbour.

Table 1: Hull Surveillance Programme Results to 28 January 2022

2020/2021 Hull Surveillance Programme Results	Total this month	Total YTD
Pathways Plan Compliance
Number of vessels surveyed this month	494	1,008
% Pathways Plan Compliance (all vessels) *	63.8	56.1
Vessels found with Marine Pests
Sabella spallanzanii (fanworm)	29	35
Styela clava (clubbed tunicate)	1	41
Undaria pinnatifida (Japanese kelp)	0	0
Eudistoma elongatum (Australian droplet tunicate)	1	2
Pyura doppelgangera (sea squirt)	0	0

* Percentage vessels surveyed complying with acceptable level of light fouling as defined in the Marine Pathways Plan.

Detection of Sabella spallanzanii (fanworm) on a commercial barge in Houhora

Contract divers detected fanworm on a large commercial barge while conducting biosecurity hull inspections in Houhora harbour in January 2022. Fanworm is not known to be established in the area. Given the size of the barge, environmental conditions, and the distance away from any facilities where the barge could be hauled it was agreed that the best method to mitigate risks in this instance was to have trained divers remove all individuals with the burden of cost being the responsibility of the barge company. A large six diver team attended the barge supervised by council marine biosecurity staff on the 27-28 January, removing approximately 550 individuals with an average size of approximately 120 mm. Council staff preformed histological analysis on a subset
	Marine biosecurity staff conducting histological analysis on Mediterranean fanworm using field microscope and equipment.
of the individuals removed which revealed that a majority of the fanworm were within their first reproductive year and had not spawned yet. There was however a small number of individuals that had the potential to have existed on the barge for a number of years and as such spawning within Houhora could not be ruled out. Staff will continue to engage with the barge contractor and their client to arrange routine surveillance of seabed and structures following this incident.

PEST PLANTS

Eradication plants

Biosecurity staff and contractors are busy with the schedule of summer eradication and progressive containment pest plant control work. This includes resuming the large scale grid search work for batwing passionflower in bush reserves in the Kamo area that had been delayed by Auckland based contractors unable to travel because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Progressive containment and sustained control plants

The first annual round of the Ministry for Primary Industries funded Manchurian wild rice program is also well underway, with good results from the previous round of spray evident.

With tree privet flowering quite early staff are also receiving numerous requests for advice around control and for enforcement of boundary rules.

Pest plant Biofunds

Small Biofunds to help landowners with knock down of serious pest plants are becoming increasingly popular. For high priority sites and target species, in addition to control resources, some contract hours are being made available where landowners have invested volunteer hours or matched the contractor contribution. This helps with project momentum and rapid knockdown of seed sources reduces the maintenance effort required.

8.3.7 GOVERNANCE AND ENGAGEMENT

MĀORI ENGAGEMENT

He Maimai Aroha

Haere atu rā e ngā tini mate

Hoki atu ki te mūrau a te tini

Ki te wenerau a te mano

Ki te wāhi hokinga kore ki muri

Ki te pō ra kia koutou e moe

Kei ngā whānau katoa

Tēnei te tuku i ngā whakāronui ki a koutou i tēnei wā pouri

Nei ka pari atu ngā tai o aroha ki a koutou!

It was with great sadness that we heard the news of the passing away of two Te Taitokerau Māori and Council Working Party (TTMAC) hapū representatives Victor Holloway, Ngāti Tara and Hoki Tua, Whāingaroa. Both known for their commitment for the hopes and aspirations of their hapū and iwi, they will both be sadly missed for their contributions and leadership on TTMAC.

Tangata Whenua Engagement

Currently our team are working on the following activities to improve engagement with tangata whenua on resource consents processes:

· A meeting held with hapū kaitiaki from across Te Taitokerau to consider how we can improve our decision making processes and provide better information to applicants and staff.

· Updating of Resource Consents contacts including Marae, Hapū, Iwi and Ingoa Wharenui and Wharekai.

· Reviewing of historic Hapū and Iwi environmental and monitoring plans and contacts and with relevant hapū and iwi to discuss revisions and progressing new applications with Te Parawhau and Ngāti Toro. Providing relevant information for expressions of interest for the next funding round.

Mana Whakahono ā Rohe (MWaR)

The team is currently working with the policy and planning team to prepare and consider a review of the MWaR with hapū Patuharakeke and Ngāti Rehia. Te Uri o Hau and Te Parawhau are keen to be signatories to the agreement, however COVID-19 has impacted the ability to do this appropriately ā kānohi (face to face on the marae).

Treaty Health Check

An independent health check is underway and has been endorsed and supported by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and council. Utilising the Te Arawhiti Framework https://www.tearawhiti.govt.nz/assets/Tools-and-Resources/Maori-Crown-Relations-Capability-Framework-Individual-Capability-Component.pdf council will undertake an independent review of areas that are identified as key priorities by the Māori Technical Advisory Group (MTAG) on behalf of TTMAC caucus, and other key stakeholders in our commitment to building meaningful relationships with tangata whenua.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Investment and Growth Reserve – Projects Report

Project

Update

Future developments/ reporting

REL

Expecting to receive draft repayment agreement between REL and NRC.

Further information to be provided.

Extension 350

Quarterly evaluation meeting held in December.

Presentation update given to JREDC.

The E350 team reported that budget is on track and further funding for evaluation and planning next steps has been secured. Potential follow-on programme as part of a broader “Grow Northland” work programme

Other Work Undertaken

Ÿ Joint Regional Economic Development Committee (JREDC) – Meeting held on 10 December followed by the quarterly workshop with Northland Inc directors. A letter of expectations on the Statement of Intent 2022-25 sent to Northland Inc.

Ÿ Northland Economic Quarterly – 32^nd issue of the NEQ Newsletter published. The annual section looks at selected primary industries in Northland while the spotlight section analyses the latest business demographic data. The latest issue is available online at https://www.nrc.govt.nz/resource-library-summary/newsletters/economic-quarterly/.

Ÿ Economic information – Provided data on economic impact of COVID-19 to various parties; worked with Te Hiku Development Trust to create a “Te Hiku Iwi” cluster within the Northland region economic profile hosted by Infometrics.

Ÿ Digital – Prepared letter from the Mayoral Forum to Hon Dr David Clark, Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications on various digital issues.

Ÿ Oruku Landing Project – Prepared letter from CEO to proponents clarifying that NRC’s funding is no longer available in light of WDC decision to abandon the project.

Ÿ Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust (TTTWT) – Provided briefing to council workshop and continued discussions with the Trust on progress being made on water storage schemes.

Ÿ Land Use Mapping –Drafting request for proposal (RFP) in conjuction with Science team.

Ÿ CLUES Scenarios costings– Supporting Policy and Plannng team with water quality mitigation options costings.

ONLINE CHANNELS

Most popular content on Facebook:

*Engaged – number of people who ‘reacted’, commented, or shared the post

Key Performance Indicators	Sep-21	Oct-21	Nov-21	Dec-21	Jan-22
WEB
# Visits to the NRC website	34,900	41,300	33,100	34,526	41,600
E-payments made	29	33	20	18	7
# subscription customers (cumulative)	1,286	1,273	1,273	NA*	1,263
SOCIAL MEDIA (cumulative)
# Twitter followers	1,562	1,566	1,564	1,564	1,567
# NRC Facebook fans	10,500	10,500	10,507	10,469	10,510
# NRC Overall Facebook Reach	56,300	37,300	57,300	244,777	157,700
# NRC Engaged Daily Users	2,502	1,479	2,093	4,821	2,755
# CDEM Facebook fans	25,419	25,700	25,800	26,120	26,117
# CDEM Overall Facebook Reach	344,100	325,000	236,900	NA*	214,100
# CDEM Engaged Daily Users	27,400	54,700	30,600	NA*	26,600
# Instagram followers	1,422	1,442	1,450	NA*	1,488

NOTES: *NA – Data not available due to Christmas break.

ENVIROSCHOOLS / EDUCATION

Dune Lakes Education Day

On 11 January, Enviroschools, Biodiversity and Land Management team members ran a dune lakes education day at Lake Waimimiha, near Ahipara, as part of Te Noho Taiao o Te Rarawa. Environmental action stations covered pest fish, water quality and tuna (eels).

Bronze, Silver and Green-Gold Enviroschools

Council’s Enviroschools continue to grow in depth and breadth of environmental knowledge and action, as they progress through the Bronze, Silver and Green-Gold stages.

Celebrations

During December, councillors joined in Enviroschools celebrations with Bay of Islands International Academy - Green-Gold with Cr Joce Yeoman – and with Forest View (Tikipunga), Parihaka and Tikipunga Kindergartens - Bronze with Crs Jack Craw, Terry Archer and Amy Macdonald. During December also, Tangiteroria School became a Silver Enviroschool.

This year, it is exciting to note that almost 40 Enviroschools from across the region plan to Reflect at Bronze (14), Silver (15), Green-Gold (3) and Green-Gold reviews (6).

Enviroschools communities facilitated

Despite the school holidays, during December and January Enviroschools Facilitators held specific interactions with 66 school and early childhood communities.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Communications

Communications issued in December/January included our quarterly e-newsletter and newspaper spread, Our Northland, our Coastcare e-newsletter, rates brochure as well as 12 media releases covering the following topics:

· Release of new floodmaps

· Scholarships opening for applications

· Masks on buses competition

· Rubbish barge in Bay of Islands

· Call to tackle pest plants

· Beach buses and free bus travel before Christmas

· Cancellation of Whangarei Heads bus route

· Shipping channel warning

· Life jacket library in Far North

· Awanui floodworks update

· Natural causes of waterway pollution

· Tackling moth plant

Campaigns

Several marketing campaigns were completed or are in progress:

· Transport Mask Up Campaign to encourage mask use on our buses

· Summer Beach Buses promoting our service to Ocean Beach and Ruakaka

· Can I Swim here to highlight our summer water monitoring activity and encourage the public to check it is safe to swim before they get in.

· Recruitment campaign promoting NRC as a place to work and driving sign-ups for our vacancy alerts

· Nobody’s stronger than Tangaroa – promoting safer boating practices

Scholarships

Our scholarships programme, Tū I te Ora, is open to applications until the start of March. Radio, print and social media advertising are being used to promote the scholarships.

COVID-19

COVID-19 continues to impact us from a communications and engagement perspective on multiple fronts: internal comms to support the organisations workplace response to COVID-19, working with other areas of the organisation like transport to encourage mask wearing, and event cancellations including the Whangarei and Kaikohe A&P shows. It has also now been confirmed that Field Days will not go ahead this year. Where possible we are working to continue to run events like enviroschools in line with government protocols or shifting to hybrid or virtual delivery where we can.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL INFORMATION (LGOIMA) REQUESTS

Total LGOIMAs	Dec 2020 to Feb 2021	Dec 2021 to Feb 2022
Total LGOIMAs	33	13
Number of LGOIMAs not responded to within 20 working days		0

CUSTOMER SERVICES

Telephone inbound call statistics & enquiries

	Nov 2021	Dec 2021	Jan 2022
Call volume via Customer Services	2240	1713	2049
Average wait time	7.8secs	7.2 secs	5.2 secs

Customer service calls have been fairly consistent with a slight drop in numbers over December. The greatest volume of calls have been for biosecurity, maritime and consents.

1 July 2018 –

30 June 2019

1 July 2019 –

30 June 2020

1 July 2020 –

30 June 2021

Call volume via Customer Services

20812

30566

31130

This is the call volume over the last three years using our 3CX system.

Mailroom email processing performance
The inwards mail has, as expected slowed somewhat over the summer period.

	Nov 2021	Dec 2021	Jan 2022
Mail processed	904	810	679

Satisfaction monitoring

All complaints were attended to.

Feedback cards, compliments, and complaints

Compliments received

Total

December 2021 and January 2022

Service provided by a specific person/people

· Monitoring

· Melissa Larkin

· City Link

Total compliments recorded

Complaints received

Total

December 2021 and January 2022

Service provided by a specific person/people

· City Link buses

· Maritime

Total complaints recorded

8.3.8 COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

TRANSPORT

PASSENGER TRANSPORT ADMINISTRATION

*BusLink figures are reported one month in arrears, due to the required information being unavailable at the time of the agenda deadline.

Bus Link stats for November 2021  (revenue ex GST)	Actual	Budget	Variance	Year/Date Actual	Year/Date Budgeted	Variance
CityLink passengers carried	29,884	27,573	+2,311	114,954	137,918	-22,964
CityLink fares collected	$32,906	$35,337	-$2,431	$146,323	$176,754	-$30,431
Mid North Link passengers carried	144	156	-12	689	792	-103
Mid North Link fares collected	$446	$780	-334	$1,851	$3,960	-$2,109
Hokianga Link passengers carried	94	78	+16	384	390	-6
Hokianga Link fares collected	$513	$543	-$30	$2,115	$2,713	-$598
Far North Link passengers carried	189	405	-216	1,179	1,978	-799
Far North Link fares collected	$434	$1,024	-$590	$3,182	$5,004	-$1,822
Bream Bay Link passengers carried	45	24	+21	197	126	+71
Bream Bay Link fares collected	$301	$86	+$215	$1,364	$454	+$910
Hikurangi Link passengers carried	28	24	+4	78	114	-36
Hikurangi Link fares collected	$73	$63	+$10	$204	$329	-$125
Whangarei Heads Link passengers carried	11	24	-13	52	126	-74
Whangarei Heads Link fares collected	$47	$104	-$57	$225	$548	-$323

Bus Link stats for December2021  (revenue ex GST)	Actual	Budget	Variance	Year/Date Actual	Year/Date Budgeted	Variance
CityLink passengers carried	21,264	22,420	-1,156	136,218	160,338	-24,120
CityLink fares collected	$22,912	$28,733	-$5,821	$151,211	$205,407	-$54,196
Mid North Link passengers carried	124	156	-32	813	948	-135
Mid North Link fares collected	$413	$780	-$367	$2,264	$4,740	-$2,476
Hokianga Link passengers carried	58	78	-20	442	468	-26
Hokianga Link fares collected	$327	$543	-$216	$2,442	$3,255	-$813
*Far North Link passengers carried	219	331	-112	1,398	2,309	-911
*Far North Link fares collected	$443	$837	-$394	$3,625	$5,842	-$2,217
Bream Bay Link passengers carried	53	30	+23	250	156	+94
Bream Bay Link fares collected	$263	$108	+$155	$1,627	$561	+$1,066
Hikurangi Link passengers carried	38	30	+8	116	144	-28
Hikurangi Link fares collected	$57	$78	-$21	$261	$407	-$146
Whangarei Heads Link passengers carried	9	30	-21	61	156	-95
Whangarei Heads Link fares collected	$30	$130	-$100	$254	$678	-$424

*December 2021 statistics

 Please Note that the following services reflected above operate on Thursdays Only:

· Bream Bay Link

· Hikurangi Link

· Whangārei Heads Link

Passengers Carried

Passenger numbers remain low with the continued reluctance of adult passengers to travel on buses with scholars due to continued antisocial behavior. It is hoped that the introduction of the separate scholar buses in the early part of 2022 will help in alleviating this problem.

In addition to the above, the negative commercial impact of COVID-19 coupled with decreased family disposable income had led to existing passengers not travelling as frequently. In addition, the move of SuperGold Card passenger to the Total Mobility Scheme has continued.

The above has not been helped with the continued movement of COVID-19 Alert Levels and the resultant impact on the level of services operated. It is expected this scenario will worsen with the anticipated impact of the Omicron strain.

From regular meetings with other regional councils, Waka Kotahi and the Ministry of Transport, it is apparent the above trend is national. Regional councils concern over decreasing passengers' numbers, decreasing farebox revenue and the difficulty in raising both national and local share funding coupled with the government's expectations on types of services to be delivered is constantly being passed on to Waka Kotahi and the Ministry of Transport.

At the time of compiling this report, the impact rising fuel prices will have on the number of passengers carried is unknown.

Far North Link

Please note for the month of November 2021, the Far North Link service did not operate for a full week due to a member of the contracting company testing positive for COVID-19.

Whangārei Heads Link

This service will be removed at the end of January 2022 due to lack of passengers.

Farebox Revenue

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency advised in December 2022 that they will extend their financial assistance for farebox revenue lost because of the COVID-19/Omicron related passenger decline through to 30 June 2022. This subsidy assistance is at the approved financial assistance rate of 54%. 

Staff have requested both Ministry of Transport and Waka Kotahi give serious consideration to the approval of medium/long term funding support for rural based social bus services. Continued short term decisions and/or no medium to long term funding certainty is placing these services in jeopardy of closure and rural communities left without alternative transport options. This has the potential for the increase of unlicensed, unregistered and unroadworthy vehicles and increased crashes on the region's roads. 

CityLink Bus Service Whangārei 

Staff are presently undertaking a complete review of the CityLink Bus Service timetables, routes, and vehicles. This review will include consideration of urban growth patterns, industrial and commercial growth patterns, population demographics, potential travel behaviour changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, vehicle utilisation, vehicle types and resultant costs. 

Rose Street Bus Terminus Update 

Tenders for the Phase 1 upgrade of the Rose St Terminal closed on Thursday 20 January 2022. Subject to an acceptable tender being awarded, the upgrade is scheduled for completion by May 2022. During the construction period, temporary loading/unloading facilities will be utilised in Vine St. 

An application for a full-time staff member to work from the Rose Street office has been approved subject to resolving security concerns. This application will be presented separately to the NTALG at the February 2022 meeting. This person will be the face of the Link Service in Northland and will assist passengers with enquiries, complaints, ticketing related issues etc. 

Summer Beach Bus Services 

Thursday only services were operated between Whangārei and Oceans Beach, and Whangārei and Ruakākā Beach.  

These services operated Thursday only from 23 December 2021 to 27 January 2022. Passenger loadings for the Oceans Beach Service were unfortunately very poor at an average of 1 passenger per trip. Passenger loadings for the Ruakākā Beach services averaged 6 passengers per trip. 

CityLink Promotions

There have been several promotions over the last reporting period to encourage use of the CityLink bus services. These have included:

The Silver Festival 2021 event held in Whangarei on 11, 12, 13 November 2021 was used to encourage people to use the CityLink bus service. This included a give-away morning tea for 6 people who caught “alternative transport”, like buses to the event.

Free Travel was offered on scheduled public transport services from 1 October to 31 December 2021, to support the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. The fare for those persons making use of this offer was covered by Waka Kotahi at 100%. Unfortunately, the uptake was very low. In addition, Super Saturday for vaccinations was advertised through the Civil Defence FB page.

Snap a Selfie Wearing a Mask - A BusLink and CityLink promotion that ran from Tuesday 30 November 2021 to Tuesday 14 December 2021. Passengers were encouraged to wear masks, snap a selfie and upload it to the NRC URL platform to go in the draw to win one of 50 $30 grocery vouchers.

Christmas Promotion for BusLink and CityLink - Free travel for all Services. This was held on Thursday 23 December 2021, with Christmas giveaways at the Rose Street bus terminus for passengers, along with a visit from Santa.   

Due to Covid-19 RED traffic light restrictions, efforts were directed more toward online promotions than promotions resulting in gatherings of people at the terminus.

Due to the uncertainty over COVID-19 levels of lock down, this year’s Car Free Day has been cancelled.   

Total Mobility (TM)

Total Clients

Monthly Actual Expend

Monthly Budgeted Expend

Monthly Variance

Year/Date Actual Expend

Year/Date Budgeted Expend

Annual Variance

November

2021

1246

$23,214

$25,000

-$7,786

$109,273

$125,000

-$15,727

December 2021

1246

$21,487

$25,000

-$3,513

$130,759

$150,000

-$19,241

RideWise Two (RW2) Upgrade

RideWise 2 (RW2) is an upgrade from RideWise 1 (R1) which is the Total Mobility Scheme electronic swipe card system. It’s an online system that manages Total Mobility nationally, swipe cards for clients, tracking of journeys and allows agencies to upload client assessment forms.

Northland remains part of the national SME’s group (Subject Matter Expert). Workshops in 2021 continued, concentrating on consultation with transport operators, agencies, and other councils regarding all of the RW1 functions.

Ongoing comparisons to RW2 to develop a new and improved system to be implemented in 2022 continues with Northland scheduled be the 2^nd region to go live.

National Total Mobility Card

Northland, along with all other regions, is undertaking a staged implementation of the National Total Mobility card. The rationale behind the move to a national system is:

· To align with the drive toward a national bus ticketing system.

· A nationally recognised card to allow TM client’s the opportunity to use the card anywhere in the country and to reduce/eliminate issues with drivers not recognising the card which happens especially in the bigger regions with the smaller operators   

· All regions had input and ownership.

· The card design is consistent with disability sector branding and guidelines

The “Getting Out There” Expo promoting Abilities & International Day of People with Disabilities planned for Wednesday 1 December 2021 at which the TM Scheme was to be promoted, had to be cancelled due to Northland being at the RED traffic light setting for COVID-19.

Investigation into Incidents of Double Dipping

Northland is working with Wellington who have engaged a consultant to investigate “Double Dipping” of available funding support across all sectors of transport for peoples with disabilities.

National Driver Training

There is a national request for a more nationally consistent Total Mobility driver training programme. This request is to be presented to all TM Coordinators and Waka Kotahi with a recommendation that this form part of the Ministry of Transport review into the national TM Scheme review.  

ROAD SAFETY UPDATE

Road Trauma Update - 2021 Year to Date, Road Fatalities Statistics

Fatalities this year	Far North	Whangārei	Kaipara	Northland	National
Local roads	4	3	4	11	178
State highways	7	8	7	22	142
TOTAL	11	11	11	33	320

Road Trauma Update - 2022 Year to Date, Road Fatalities Statistics

Fatalities this year	Far North	Whangārei	Kaipara	Northland	National
Local roads	0	1	0	1	13
State highways	0	0	1	1	10
TOTAL	0	1	1	2	23

Motorcycle Safety - Ride Forever (R4E) Rider Training Update

· R4E – 2020/2021 – 186 riders completed courses

· R4E – 2021/2022 – 88 riders completed courses year to date

Driver Reviver/Fatigue Stops Cancelled

The planned event for 17 December was cancelled due to COVID-19 travel / border restrictions / operations.

The two planned Driver Reviver / Fatigue Stops for 28 January 2022 (Anniversary Weekend) were cancelled due to poor weather forecast and Omicron & the red traffic light issues which also influenced cancelling the Waitangi Weekend Stop.

Road Safety Promotion/Media themes for December 2021 and January 2022

Road safety promotional and media related themes for the above-mentioned months will concentrate around:

· Alcohol, Drugs, Fatigue, Seatbelts, Speed, Young Drivers, Motorcyclists.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

NATIONAL 

Legislation review

NEMA held a series of online introductory sessions in the week of 17 January to introduce proposed policy changes to the rewrite of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act. The six sessions were well attended with over 350 external people able to join. The discussions at the meetings were highly constructive and provided valuable insights, including positive feedback.

Main concerns raised related to the timeframe for engagement, and connection to other reforms.

It should be noted that at this time NEMA have indicated that they are not seeking formal consultation or public consultation, they are seeking feedback on early options before final policy proposals are provided to Ministers. The opportunity for formal submissions (e.g. from CDEM Groups and local authorities) at the Select Committee process, will occur later in the year.

COVID-19

As most would be aware New Zealand is now moving into a new phase of the pandemic with the Government preparing for Omicron spreading rapidly in the community and consequential impacts on the Health sector, workforces, and supply chains. The Government is implementing a three phased approach with changes to testing, case investigation, contract tracing, isolation, and quarantine requirements at each phase.

NEMA and the CDEM groups continue to support the All-of-Government response to COVID-19 as New Zealand moves into COVID-19 Protection Framework Red setting and Phase One.

CDEM Groups will not be required to provide COVID-19 welfare support under the Care in the Community programme to ensure they can focus on other concurrent emergency responses.

The Northland CDEM Group has been focused upon planning for and responding to concurrent events in the region (including the Kaimaumau Fire, Ex-tropical cyclone Cody, Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami and an additional tsunami advisory on 30 January). As a result, a plan has been developed for staff continuity and the ability to carry out surveillance testing for COVID-19 for business continuity and critical service provision purposes. The group has secured stocks of Rapid Antigen Tests and will move to surveillance testing if or when required.

National Tsunami Evacuation Map

NEMA is currently building an online map which will allow people anywhere in Aotearoa to find out if they are in a tsunami evacuation zone. The map will take tsunami evacuation data from the sixteen different regional tsunami mapping services and will be built with accessibility in the front of mind.

This national map is expected to be ready in the first half of 2022 and will initially be released as a public education tool on the Get Ready website. Once complete, this will be promoted with an awareness campaign encouraging people to familiarise themselves with their evacuation zones.

REGIONAL

Kaimaumau Fire

Northland CDEM has been providing Welfare and liaison support to the FENZ lead response to the Kaimaumau fire since mid-December 2021. As part of the Welfare arrangements CDEM have provided accommodation and support on three separate occasions to evacuees from the fire, including over the Christmas and New Year periods. There has also been ongoing liaison with FENZ to assist with planning and welfare related matters. FENZA have indicated that they are starting to scale back resourcing to the fire and move to a recovery structure. Again, CDEM has been contributing to the recovery planning and arrangements as an advisor.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in Tonga – Tsunami Impacts at Tutukaka

GNS Science is the mandated and official scientific assessor of earthquake/volcano/potential tsunami for New Zealand. GNS have said that assessing this tsunami was different from assessing earthquake-source tsunamis that occur more frequently. Cyclone Cody was also a complicating factor. The storm caused heightened swells around the east coast of the North Island and made GNS data more difficult to decipher. Based on GNS assessments, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issued a National Advisory: Tsunami Activity for the east and north coast of the North Island and the Chatham Islands around 8:30pm on Saturday. This was extended to the West Coast of the South Island around 9:40am on Sunday based on further observations from the network. NEMA warned people to expect strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore.

Northland CDEM team members were monitoring the effects of Cyclone Cody and were in communication with both NEMA and GNS Science during the assessment process which followed the volcanic eruption. At the same time there was a Kaimaumau fire evacuation advised by Fire and Emergency NZ and a member of the CDEM team supported this.

Stakeholders were informed including community response groups of the national advisory and also sent out on social media sites.

Northland CDEM team members received reports from campgrounds in the Far North that had been evacuated as a precaution after elevated sea levels/wave heights were observed and were advised of damage at the Tutukaka Marina.

In the following days, the Maritime and CDEM teams supported the Tutukaka Marina and trust members with clean up, salvage, public information and safety.

Tsunami sirens were not used in this instance due to the national advisory level and that the current network cannot be activated in isolation by location, so the entire east coast of the Whangarei district siren network would have to be activated, which in this instance was not necessary and not aligned with standard operating procedures.

MARITIME

Commercial Shipping

Shipping was relatively quiet over this period with no incidents of note. An upcoming port and harbour safety code review is due in March, and stakeholders have been updating their processes and documents in preparation.

Recreational Boating

The maritime team destroyed 6 vessels from 3 harbours, with 4 more lined up. One vessel wrecked at Ruakākā due to the inexperience of those onboard. Two vessels were saved from sinking in the Bay of Islands by the maritime team. One vessel sunk in Parua bay, and a large barge sunk at Opononi.

The team are dealing with a number of vessel owners with derelict vessels, no mooring, and little ability to manage and maintain their vessel.

General

There were 44 incidents overall, including the above wrecks, and a large number of mooring related incidents. The team carried out 15 days of bylaw and education patrols over summer, with two vessels over the east coast harbours and Kai Iwi lakes. Assistance was provided for a medi-vac by helicopter of an injured person off a vessel and assisted with several breakdowns.

The Tonga volcano caused a significant damage from a Tsunami in Tutukaka harbour, with 6 vessels sunk and damage to the fuel jetty and several pontoons. Luckily a newly installed cut off at the fuel jetty prevented a significant spill. The maritime team spent several days assisting with the clean-up of the debris. The harbourmaster liaised with the insurers and marina manager to assist with a complex incident and multiple claims.

The tender for the replacement work vessel was tendered out and awarded to CIRCA in Whangarei.

RIVERS AND NATURAL HAZARDS

RIVERS

Long Term Plan Projects

Rivers	Comments
Awanui	Work on the Northern Floodway Benching is progressing well. The Kaitaia Rugby Club Floodway Benching and Mathew’s Park and Switzer Spillway tender has closed and will be awarded 2^nd week in February. Quarry Road & SH10 Bridges improved flow designs have been completed. Physical work to start in March.
Otīria/Moerewa	Cultural Assessment was completed in January, this was well received and attended by the hapū. Enabling work to remove asbestos waste has been completed clearing the Stage 1 lower spillway work to begin in mid-February.
Matangirau	Staff expect benching work to be underway in late February.
Kerikeri	Waipapa Industrial Estate Flood Mitigation- site walkover meeting was held with the contractor and engineer with work to begin mid-February.

NATURAL HAZARDS  

Work Streams	Status	Comments
Region-Wide River Flood Mapping	100% complete	The flood maps went live at the end of November 2021. Press releases went out as well as a notice in the regional rate payer's letter. The feedback from consultants, practitioners and from the public (few) has been very positive following several workshops.
Whangārei (CBD) River Catchment Flood Model	60% complete	Upgrade of the hydraulic model including new structures, updated LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and sea level rise values and recalibration. Initial draft outcomes were discussed and reviewed at the end of December 2021. A specific river / stream structures inspections are underway. This hydraulic model will be shared with WDC (Whangarei District Council) as they, in parallel, are developing their storm water model. The 2^nd draft outcomes of the hydraulic model are expected in March 2022.
Website Natural Hazards Portal	80% complete	Morphum Environmental have been engaged to develop the portal. The third phase of the development of the portal is underway, e.g., landing page, flooding and Te Ao Māori aspects, story maps, and sea level rise viewer. It is our vision to ‘go public’ by the end of June 2022 after delays due to resourcing challenges, and re-prioritization of workloads, by both parties.
Raupo Drainage Scheme – Coastal Flood Hazard Analysis & Mitigation Options	70% complete	We have engaged Water Technology (WT) to do detailed hydraulic modelling from all perspectives, i.e., catchment, river and most importantly coastal. The objective is to establish a detailed base model and to develop flood hazard mitigation options, particularly from a coastal perspective, and adaptation planning. The project team consists of NRC and KDC staff, Chair of the Drainage Committee, and the Consultants. NRC are taking the modelling analysis lead on this project, i.e. contract management (NRC Budget). KDC are collating the assets data covered under their budgets. Surveys, data collection, assets inspection and ‘building’ of the hydraulic model is underway. First draft ‘results’ are expected by the end January of 2022.
Natural Hazards technical and planning support to District Councils on Plan Changes and Rules	Ongoing	Following the publication of our coastal hazard maps and the regionwide flood maps, complimentary to the priority rivers flood maps, further technical, consultative, and planning support / guidance is provided to the DCs. This follows the commitments to DCs prior to the publication of the coastal hazard maps.

CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE  

Work Streams	Status	Comments
NRC Climate Change Strategy “Ngā Taumata o te Moana” and implementation plan	Progressing Actions	Progress on recommended actions in the implementation plan were reported on at the Climate Change Working Party (CCWP) meeting on Wednesday 10 November and updated subsequently. The next update will be presented at the CCWP meeting on 23 February 2022.
Te Taitokerau Climate Adaptation Strategy	Draft V2.3 – council workshops 85% complete	Workshops have been held with all Councils, Te Taitokerau Māori and Council (TTMAC) as well as tangata whenua representative groups. The draft final Strategy was presented on 29 November to the Joint Climate Change Adaptation Committee (JCCAC) for acceptance and recommendation for Councils to adopt by March 2022. The (draft) Coastal Adaptation programme has been developed, including exposure assessment of 63 coastal communities, to support TAs to select sites for community adaptation planning. Output of this assessment is one of the data corner stones for the Northland Lifeline Group Climate Change Assessment conducted by Tonkin & Taylor which is funded through CDEM; NRC being one of the participants (not the lead).
Te Taitokerau Climate Adaptation Strategy - Adaptation Programme; Pilot Projects	Ongoing	Regional Council has made funding available, up to a maximum of $45,000 each, for the three district councils to support the implementation of their respective pilot projects from our Climate Change budget (Te Roopu Tiaki Hapori – Community Resilience). Funding is made available through a business case application. KDC submitted the business case and was awarded the funds. WDC are in the process of submitting and FNDC are ‘not ready yet.’
National Science Challenge (The Deep South): Living with Uncertainties – Stakeholder Grand in Aid This directly supports the above Strategy for the implementation phase, and more particularly for the immediate timeframe, the districts’ pilot projects on coastal communities' adaptation plans.	Scoping, research, collaboration development; commenced November 2021. Initial phase 35% complete	Following a joint application with GNS funding was granted (led by NIWA) for $32,640 for the initial phase with up to $320k over a three-year period. Project and contract (including financial) management, including reporting, is being administered by GNS. All regional councils are part of this project in a collaborative way. The research support is focusing on “How can a region enable inclusive, coordinated, effective adaptation planning to deliver positive outcomes for diverse communities?” The three focus areas being: Self-directed Adaptation for iwi/hapū, Coordinated and Tailored Adaptation Approaches to Place, Integrating Non-local Supporting Mechanisms for Adaptation. This project is developed in collaboration with the below WDC Framework development. Whangārei District Council, on behalf of the northern Councils is investigating the development of a Te Ao Māori Decision-Making Framework. This is a project that seeks to co-design and develop a Te Ao Māori Decision Making Framework that responds directly to the way decisions are being made by local authorities, in particular climate change (due March 2022

NORTHLAND WIDE LIDAR SURVEY

Work Streams	Status	Comments
Regional LiDAR Survey	In progress	Staff are nearing final QA/QC checks and anticipate final deliver in 1^st Quarter.

Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Nil

[1] Including the use of land, and river and lake beds, as well as those relating to water and discharges

TITLE:	Confirmation of Minutes - Council Meeting 14 December 2021
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Specialist
Authorised by:	Chris Taylor, Governance Specialist, on 16 February 2022

TITLE:	Receipt of Action Sheet
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Specialist
Authorised by:	Chris Taylor, Governance Specialist, on 08 February 2022

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Approve updates to delegations as recommended as included as Attachment 1	Increased staff numbers with banking delegations will allow for better cover of banking duties.	None
2	Do not approve updates to delegations.	None	Maintains our current level of bank authorisers with lower flexibility around leave and more risk from staff absence.

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Council chooses not to approve the MOU	N/A	Reduced collaboration and cooperation between NRC and DOC
2	Council chooses to sign the MOU between DOC and NRC	The relationship between DOC and NRC will enhance, focussing on specific shared strategic projects, have greater collaboration in planning and integrating functions where appropriated.	N/A

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Adopt Te Pae Tawhiti: Our vision	Helpful summary of council activities for the public.	None
2	Don’t adopt Te Pae Tawhiti: Our vision	None	Council doesn’t have a publication that helpfully summarises council’s activities.

TITLE:	Financial Report to 31 January 2021
From:	Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Bruce Howse, Pou Taumatua – Group Manager Corporate Services, on 10 February 2022

TITLE:	Update to Delegations
From:	Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Bruce Howse, Pou Taumatua – Group Manager Corporate Services, on 15 February 2022

TITLE:	Northland Regional Council and Department of Conservation Memorandum of Understanding
From:	Jonathan Gibbard, Pou Tiaki Taiao – Group Manager Environmental Services
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Jonathan Gibbard, Pou Tiaki Taiao – Group Manager Environmental Services, on 09 February 2022

TITLE:	Te Pae Tawhiti: Our vision
From:	Ben Lee, Policy and Planning Manager
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Jonathan Gibbard, Pou Tiaki Taiao – Group Manager Environmental Services, on 08 February 2022

TITLE:	Water Resilience Fund - Criteria, Process and LTP Year 1 Allocation
From:	Tony Phipps, Contracted Advisor
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Victoria Harwood, Pou Tiaki Hapori - GM Community Resilience, on 10 February 2022

TITLE:	Draft NRC feedback - Discussion document on resource management system reform
From:	Justin Murfitt, Strategic Policy Specialist
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Jonathan Gibbard, Pou Tiaki Taiao – Group Manager Environmental Services, on 09 February 2022

TITLE:	Proposed changes to the NES Drinking water - Council submission
From:	Justin Murfitt, Strategic Policy Specialist
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Jonathan Gibbard, Pou Tiaki Taiao – Group Manager Environmental Services, on 10 February 2022

TITLE:	Maritime Safety Management System (SMS)
From:	Jim Lyle, Regional Harbourmaster
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Victoria Harwood, Pou Tiaki Hapori - GM Community Resilience, on 11 January 2022

TITLE:	Solar Energy Expansion at Water Street Whangarei
From:	Phil Heatley, Strategic Projects and Facilities Manager
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Bruce Howse, Pou Taumatua – Group Manager Corporate Services, on 10 February 2022

TITLE:	Budget approval for CEO recruitment
From:	Beryl Steele, Human Resources Manager
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Bruce Howse, Pou Taumatua – Group Manager Corporate Services, on 17 January 2022

TITLE:	Health and Safety Report
From:	Kelcie Mills, Health and Safety Advisor
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Bruce Howse, Pou Taumatua – Group Manager Corporate Services, on 09 February 2022

TITLE:	Chair's Report to Council
From:	Penny Smart, Chair
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Malcolm Nicolson, Tumuaki - Chief Executive Officer, on

Date	Addressed To	Subject
10.12.2021	Hon David Parker, Minister for the Environment, and Oceans and Fisheries Hon Hon Kiritapu Allan, Minister of Conservation Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Local Government	High Court decisions on jurisdiction of NES-F and natural wetlands in the CMA
20.12.2021	Hon Dr David Clark Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications	Digital Connectivity in Taitokerau Northland
21.12.2021	Hon Andrew Little, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations	Kaipara Moana Treaty settlement negotiations
10.01.2022	Mark Donnelly, Regional Software Holdings Limited	Northland Regional Council – Alternate Director
19.01.2022	Rt Hon Damien O’Connor C/ Ministry for Primary Industries	Northland Regional Council Biosecurity Operational Report

TITLE:	Emergency Services Fund 2020-2021 Report
From:	Victoria Harwood, Pou Tiaki Hapori - GM Community Resilience
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Victoria Harwood, Pou Tiaki Hapori - GM Community Resilience, on 16 February 2022

Emergency Service provider	Funding purpose	Annual Allocation (in each of 3 years (GST exclusive)	Funding uptake as of 30 June 2021 FY (2020-2021)
Northland Emergency Services Trust	Operational costs for the air rescue and ambulance services	$525K per year	$566,822.66
Surf Life Saving Northern Region	Professional guards at popular beaches outside volunteer paid hours	$201k per year	$217,012.11
St John Northern Region	Partially-fund replacement of Northland ambulances	$90k per year	$97,169.70
Coastguard Northern Region	Operating, support and training costs for Northland units	$84k per year	$90,691.63

TITLE:	Reporting on Long Term Plan 2021-2031 performance measures for quarters one and two of the 2021/22 year
From:	Robyn Broadhurst, Policy Specialist
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Bruce Howse, Pou Taumatua – Group Manager Corporate Services, on 10 February 2022

3.1 Governance
Level of service	Target	Compliance	Potential impact	Potential impact to budget	Mitigation options
Percentage of official information requests that are responded to within 20 working days	100% compliance	Q1: 91.70% – not achieved Q2: 86.70 – not achieved Details on individual requests are reported through the monthly CE’s Report	Delays for customers seeking information, reputational impact	N/A	We’re looking to improve our administrative processes so that these types of errors do not occur again.
Percentage of time that elected members attend council meetings	90% compliance	Q1: 88.90% – not achieved Q2: 97% – achieved	Reduced quality of decision making	N/A	Non-achievement of this measure was due to two councillors having a leave of absence for medical reasons.

TITLE:	Receipt of Committee Minutes
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Specialist
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Auriole Ruka, Pou Manawhakahaere - GM Governance and Engagement, on

TITLE:	Working Party Updates and Chairpersons' Briefings
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Specialist
Authorised by:	Chris Taylor, Governance Specialist, on date 16 February 2022

Item No.	Item Issue	Reasons/Grounds
10.1	Confirmation of Confidential Minutes - Council Meeting 14 December 2021	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	Strategic Review	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to prevent the disclosure or use of official information for improper gain or improper advantage s7(2)(j).
10.4	Introduction of Continuity Capital Private Equity No. 7 Fund into the Long Term Investment Fund	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to prevent the disclosure or use of official information for improper gain or improper advantage s7(2)(j).