Environment and Regulatory Committee Meeting Agenda 15
August 2019
MINUTES OF Central HAwkes Bay
District Council
Environment and Regulatory Committee
Meeting
HELD AT THE Council Chamber, 28-32
Ruataniwha Street, Waipawa
ON Thursday, 28 March 2019 AT at the conclusion of the Risk and Audit
meeting
PRESENT: Cr David Tennent
Mayor Alex Walker
Cr Ian Sharp
(Deputy Mayor)
Cr Tim Chote
Cr Brent Muggeridge
Cr Roger Maaka
IN ATTENDANCE: Joshua Lloyd (Group Manager,
Community Infrastructure and Development)
Monique Davidson
(CEO)
Bronda Smith (Group
Manager, Corporate Support and Services)
Doug Tate (Group
Manager, Customer and Community Partnerships)
Nicola Bousfield
(People and Capability Manager)
Lisa Harrison
(Organisation Transformation Lead)
Leigh Collecutt
(Governance and Support Officer)
1 Apologies
None
2 Declarations
of Conflicts of Interest
None
3 Standing
Orders
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Committee Resolution
Moved: Cr
Ian Sharp
Seconded: Mayor
Alex Walker
THAT the following standing orders are suspended for the duration
of the meeting:
· 20.2 Time limits on speakers
· 20.5 Members may speak only once
· 20.6 Limits on number of speakers
And that Option C under section 21
General procedures for speaking and moving motions be used for the meeting.
Standing orders are recommended to be suspended to enable members
to engage in discussion in a free and frank manner.
Carried
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4 Confirmation
of Minutes
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Committee Resolution
Moved: Cr
Ian Sharp
Seconded: Mayor
Alex Walker
That the minutes of the Environment and
Regulatory Committee Meeting held on 14 February 2019 as circulated, be
confirmed as true and correct.
Carried
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5 Report
Section
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5.1 Environment
and Regulatory Committee Update
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to provide the Environment
and Regulatory Committee with information on key activities that fit within
the Committee’s terms of reference.
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Committee Resolution
Moved: Cr Brent
Muggeridge
Seconded: Cr
Ian Sharp
That, having considered all matters raised in the
report, the report be noted.
Carried
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The following items were discussed as
part of the Environment and Regulatory Committee update:
· 3 Waters Review
· Waste Water
· Drinking Water
· Storm Water
· Environmental Strategy
· Leachate to Land
· Buildings and Consents
· Big Water Story Programme Update
· Mayor Walker asked for consideration around the risk assessment for
water safety. Officers determined that the current assessment was reasonable on
the basis of current work being undertaken as well as current regulations,
however noted that this would be monitored.
· Cr Sharp asked about timing to cap the closed cell at the landfill
with the intention to seek Regional Council consent to put leachate to land. It
was confirmed that consent process has started and that the Regional Council
would be undertaking a site visit on 9th April.
· Cr Muggeridge how a regional approach to managing water might affect
the Big Water Story and potential contracts. Given the current
procurement processes in place, it was identified that this would be discussed
in a Council workshop later in the day.
· Mayor Walker requested that the Big Water Story update report is
uploaded to the website for public to be able to access.
6 Date
of Next Meeting
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Committee Resolution
Moved: Cr
Ian Sharp
Seconded: Mayor
Alex Walker
THAT the next meeting of the Central
Hawke's Bay District Council be held on 15 August 2019.
Carried
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7 Time
of Closure
The Meeting closed at 11.32am.
The minutes of this meeting were
confirmed at the Environment and Regulatory Committee Meeting held on 15 August
2019.
...................................................
CHAIRPERSON
5 Report
Section
5.1 Environment
and Regulatory Committee Update
File
Number: COU1-1412
Author: Josh
Lloyd, Group Manager - Community Infrastructure and Development
Authoriser: Monique
Davidson, Chief Executive
Attachments: Nil
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to provide an update to the
Environment and Regulatory committee on key activities.
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Recommendation
That, having considered all matters raised in the
report, the report be noted.
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significance and engagement
This report is provided for information purposes only and
has been assessed as being of some importance.
DISCUSSION
The role of the Environment and Regulatory Committee is to assist
Council to discharge its responsibilities for:
· Preparation and promotion of strategies and policies relating to
environmental impact and regulatory requirements
· Policy review and development relevant to regulatory activities and
environmental impact of council and community assets and infrastructure
Specific Responsibilities include:
· Discussion and preparation of Environmental strategies, plans and
policies
· Discussion and preparation of Regulatory strategies, plans and
policies
· Recommend appropriate draft strategies, plans and policies to
council for movement to public consultation
· Recommend appropriate strategies plans and policies to council for
approval
· Review of all council projects and activities as they relate to
Environmental and Regulatory strategies, policies and plans
This specific report contains
the usual updates on key activities under the ambit of the Environment and
Regulatory Committee but also acts as a special report providing a review and
acknowledgement of work completed by and for the Committee over the previous 12
months.
Completed Work:
Environmental and
Sustainability Strategy
In June, Council adopted the Environmental and
Sustainability Strategy that was consulted on with the Annual Plan. The
Strategy was identified through Project THRIVE and set as a priority for
Council through the 2018-21 Long Term Plan. The Strategy was developed in
partnership with the community through an established reference group and
outlined 4 key themes or focus areas:
· Managing
our impact on waterways
· Increasing
recycling and reducing waste to landfill
· Conserving
water
· Managing
for climate change
The Strategy also contained a set of actions for Council and
the community and will form the basis of Councils environmental responsibility
management approach going forward.
An update on actions listed in the Strategy is provided
below.
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Theme
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Action
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Update
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Leading
the way in environmental sustainability
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Obtain
membership on a Sustainable Business Network, complete an audit and plan to
reduce Council’s emissions and build sustainability into purchasing
decisions
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This
work programmed for early 2020.
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Formally
establish the Community Environmental and Sustainability Reference Group
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Through
the WMMP process the group has again been engaged with Terms of Reference
being created now for the longer term direction of the group.
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Establish
a publicly accessible fund to support community-led initiatives to deliver on
the Strategy and Councils SWMMP.
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This
fund was created and adopted by Council in February 2019 and Officers are
working now through the first formal application towards the fund.
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Ensuring
environmental vitality through our way of working
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Complete
Review of District Plan
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This
project is underway.
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Investigate
long term water supply storage solution
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This
work to be completed through the Tuki Taskforce.
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Implement
the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan
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The
WMMP was redrafted in 2019 and consulted on in July. The revised WMMP is aligned
with the outcomes of the Environmental and Sustainability Strategy and will
be adopted by Council in August.
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Continue
investment in infrastructure to meet resource consent conditions,
specifically those related to discharges to waterways
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Councils
Big Water Story Programme continues to deliver on major infrastructure
projects. A focus of the programme are WWTP upgrades that will improve or
remove discharges to freshwater.
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Council
where possible will continue to seek external funding to support various
environmental and sustainability initiatives
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The
Waste Levy is being utilised to support various initiatives. The TIF is
providing funding for tourism infrastructure in Te Paerahi that will improve
environmental outcomes.
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Council
and the Tuki Tuki Water Task Force will continue to work together with
Regional and Central Government on a sustainable water retention solution for
the community.
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The
Tuki Taskforce is on hiatus while the scope and model of the group are
reviewed. Council remains committed to the intent of the group and is working
with HBRC to revitalise the initiative.
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Continue
to improve water supply infrastructure to reduce leakage and waste
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Significant
leak repairs have been completed in 2019 with over 300 sites attended to. Big
Water Story capital projects are further seeking to reduce water wastage.
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Proactively
work towards meeting resource consent conditions by monitoring and addressing
issues as they arise.
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Council
has increased monitoring of Stormwater outflows to meet new consent
conditions and continues to meet all other consent conditions for monitoring
and reporting.
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Our
People and Place
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Provide
readily accessible information about environmental sustainability.
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Upgrades
of Councils public information systems are planned for upon adoption of the
WMMP with waste, recycling and environmental sustainability being one of four
identified priority communications campaigns for the organisation.
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Complete
Village Planning to identify projects of interest and plan to complete
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Community
planning events are underway in various communities.
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Committing
to work with HBRC to continue to monitor and understand the impacts of
climate change including coastal inundation and the impact this will have on
public and private infrastructure.
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No
update to provide on this initiative at this time.
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Building
a sustainable economy
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Complete
Economic Development Assessment to determine opportunities sustained by our
natural environment
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An
Economic Assessment Report and Action Plan are being presented to Council in
August for adoption.
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Develop
an Economic Development Strategy incorporating sustainable development
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Provide
and facilitate access to information about sustainable business practices
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These
actions to be progressed as part of the planned communication and awareness
campaign to occur post WMMP later in 2019.
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Encourage
businesses to practice end of life product stewardship
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Environmental Fund
The Strategy (above) was intended to bring to life
objectives of the community raised through Project THRIVE about nurturing and
protecting Central Hawke’s Bays natural environment.
The Strategy would be a guiding document that set principles
and actions for how Council would manage its own impact on the environment and
support the community to improve environmental and sustainability outcomes. A
publicly accessible fund was suggested and approved to use money available from
Council National Waste Levy to support community-led initiatives.
To manage this in line with the ambitions of the Strategy
and the aspirations of the community and to ensure financial prudence, an
Environmental Funding Policy was drafted by Officers and adopted by Council in
February 2019. The Fund makes up to $20,000 available to community individuals,
groups or non-profit organisations for environmental and sustainability-related
initiatives with a focus on waste minimisation, education and awareness.
Officers are currently working through the first formal application to the
Fund.
Storm Water Resource Consent
In October 2017 Council received a comprehensive discharge
consent for existing and proposed residential and industrial sites of Waipawa
and Waipukurau. With the new consent came a new regime of compliance against
consent conditions. Recognising the ‘newness’ of the work, in 2018
Council partnered with Stantec in developing a comprehensive programme of work
to meet the new consent conditions. The work programme includes the development
of new internal processes and procedures as well as the implementation of a new
monitoring regime for Stormwater discharges. An important piece of work in
identifying and ranking all high risk sites was completed late in 2018 and
received commendation by the HBRC.
BCA Review and Progress
Following the Morrison Lowe
review of the BCA in 2017, the department has transformed itself through a
variety of self-driven initiatives. Despite increased demand on the activity
through record consent volumes, the department has rid itself of its prior reputation.
The department has actively
and intentionally engaged with its customers through targeted trades networking
evenings, information sharing and an improved responsiveness to feedback and
enquiries. Strong leadership in the team and an increase in
‘on-the-ground’ resources have meant that the team has been able to
keep up with the increase in demand and is now no longer utilising external
processing firms to complete consents.
The team have received
exemplary feedback from the industry and customers and also received
commendation during its very rigorous IANZ accreditation audit process in 2018.
Capping off a fantastic and transformative year for the team was the awarding
of New Zealand’s Young Building Professional of the Year to Mr Ben Swinburne.
A final acknowledgement to
the transformation of the team came in Junes Annual Resident Opinion Survey
results which showed marked increases in satisfaction of residents for building
control activities.
Swimming Pool Regulation
To ensure Council meets the
new pool safety legislation which came into effect on 1 January 2017, we have
been working hard to identify, register and visit all the pools in our
District. We have approximately 600 pools and all of these pools need an
initial site visit by the end of 2019. In March we hired Paul Simmonds to join
our Consents team to undertake our swimming pool inspections. Paul, with the
assistance of Bridget, John and Tim has done a great job pulling together our
list of pools, undertaking inspections, educating our residents and setting up
our schedule of pool visits for the coming years. As of 6 August we have
undertaken 350 inspections and Paul is currently managing about 30 inspections
a week, so we are on track to have achieved our goal of all pools visited by the
end of the year.
Once we have been to every
pool, and followed up on the pools that have failed and need remedial work,
pools will then need visiting every three years to ensure ongoing compliance.
Key Contract Procurements
In 2018 Council took to market
several key contracts for works related to activities governed by this
Committee. Through these procurements Council sought to attract strategic
partners that would provide excellence in delivery as well as demonstrated
commitment and alignment to Councils vision and values. Through the process
Council signed new agreements with:
· Recreational
Services and Veolia – Community Facilities and Infrastructure Contract
· Higgins
– Landfill Operations Contract
· Stantec
– Land Transport Professional Services Contract
· Smart
Environmental – Refuse and Recycling Contracts
Work in Progress:
Waste Management and
Minimisation Plan/s
In 2018 Council reviewed,
improved and adopted a new WMMP to meet its legislative requirements.
Acknowledging at the time that this review was not comprehensive, council
committed to second review in 2019.
The 2019 review is nearing
its end with community consultation on the plan now complete, feedback being
processed and a final plan set to be adopted. The 2019 review was comprehensive
and engaged external support as well as the views of the community through the
establishment of a community reference group. The plan has identified key
priorities for the district that both Council and the community can contribute
to.
National and Regional 3
Waters Review
Throughout 2018/19 Officers
have played a leading role Regionally and Nationally in the Government-led
three waters review. The review split into two distinct workstreams; regulation
and delivery.
Officers, particularly the
Chief Executive, provided input and influence to the regulation arm of the
review that saw an announcement made in August of a new drinking water
regulator to be established. Officers are confident that the new regulator will
provide benefit to our Council in terms of consistency and clarity but are also
aware that standards will likely increase and additional costs of compliance
will need to be met.
The delivery arm of the
review has been more fragmented nationally with various regions taking their
own approaches. Hawke’s Bay has been recognised as a leader nationally
with a strong working collaboration formed between the five Hawke’s Bay
Council’s supported by independent consultants. The result of the
Hawke’s Bay review to date has been early findings and agreement that
changes to the current delivery model hold potential for significant benefit to
the Region and that further work is required to fully understand the potential
of this benefit and the costs and practicalities of giving effect to it.
Officers were pleased with a Government announcement in August that set aside
available funding to support Hawke’s Bays continued work to review and
improve the delivery model in the region.
Waste Water Treatment
Plant Upgrade Project
The project to upgrade
Councils 3 largest and highest risk waste water treatment plants progressed
significantly in 2018/19. The project has been run absolutely appropriately
given its magnitude with new levels of project management formality and rigor
brought to Council.
In July, Council took another
step forward by confirming a land purchase in the lower reaches of the Waipawa
River. The site was identified as having potential uses for land discharge,
treatment and storage. Through a due diligence process, Council and independent
experts confirmed the land to be useful for discharge and storage
purposes.
Further detail is provided in
the Big Water Story Key Project Status Report which is within the Finance and
Planning agenda.
Big Water Story Progress
Key projects under the
umbrella of the Big Water Story progressed well through 2018/19 with several
large projects moving from investigation and design phases into physical
construction. Numerous procurements have occurred and Council are developing
and maintaining a reputation as a preferred principle in the hot Hawke’s
Bay contracting market.
Drinking Water Compliance
Council continues to direct a
lot of resource towards maintaining and managing drinking water compliance
activities. Central Hawke’s Bay, due purely to timing/scheduling, is
leading the rest of Hawke’s Bay in terms of Water Safety Plan audits.
Through 2018 and 2019 Council have been audited several times with each audit
commenting on the positive actions Council are taking to ensure the safety and
reliability of our drinking water supplies. Each audit has also however made
further recommendations which is increasing workload on Officers and ultimately
costs to ratepayers.
Leachate to Land Project
Work to discharge landfill
leachate back onto land progressed rapidly in 2018/19 and continues to do so.
The project was formalised late in 2018 with a detailed project plan,
procurement plan for consulting support and budget associated. A detailed final
design for the end solution was created and resource consent has been granted
from the Regional Council. Unfortunately, the project has not been able to keep
within existing budgets due to additional work required to create a compliant
cell cap and this means a paper will be presented to the Finance and Planning
Committee to consider approval of extra funding.
This project, when complete,
will be a long term sustainable solution to the disposal of landfill leachate
and will stop having negative impacts on the Waipawa and Waipukurau Waste Water
Ponds.
Financial and Resourcing Implications
There are considered to be only minor financial and
resourcing implications from the information contained within this report.
Implications ASSESSMENT
This report
confirms that the matter concerned has no particular implications and has been
dealt with in accordance with the Local Government Act 2002.
Specifically:
· Council
staff have delegated authority for any decisions made;
· Any
decisions made will help meet the current and future needs of communities for
good-quality local infrastructure, local public services, and performance of
regulatory functions in a way that is most cost-effective for households and
businesses;
· Unless
stated above, any decisions made can be addressed through current funding under
the Long-Term Plan and Annual Plan;
· Any
decisions made are consistent with the Council's plans and policies; and
· No
decisions have been made that would alter significantly the intended level of
service provision for any significant activity undertaken by or on behalf of
the Council, or would transfer the ownership or control of a strategic asset to
or from the Council.
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recommendation
That, having considered all matters raised in the
report, the report be noted
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6 Date
of Next Meeting
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Recommendation
This is the final meeting of the
Environment and Regulatory Committee for the Council term.
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7 Time
of Closure
