Tairāwhiti has the most erosion-prone land in the country with 25% of the North Island’s most severely eroding land located in our region. Current land practices are unsustainable, leaving our rivers and streams vulnerable to erosion, sedimentation, and woody debris.

The existing rules allow this to continue. To achieve long-term, meaningful improvements in our freshwater and coastal environments, we need to change how land use is managed. A plan change is being proposed to address these issues.

We support forestry and farming done right but it must be done in a way that protects our land and benefits our people.

Until 31 December 2027, councils can’t notify new plan changes or reviews unless an exemption is applied or granted.

We are actively seeking exemptions for priority work, including our Sustainable Land Use plan change. We intend to apply in the coming months so this important work can continue.

We are also reshaping our resource management planning programme to ensure we are ready for the transition to the new resource management system.Draft policy direction and legislation about the new system is being worked on by the Ministry for the Environment. Our goal is a smooth transition for our region.

We will keep the community updated on the outcomes of any exemption processes and share opportunities for people to have their say as our work progresses.

Read more about the plan stop legislation here.

We’re working on a plan change that aims to strengthen how highly eroding and erosion-prone land is managed. The goal is to reduce the amount of sediment and woody debris entering waterways and to support the long-term transition of vulnerable land to more sustainable land uses.

We’ll provide further updates as the plan change progresses.

The Indicative Transition zone V1.0 layer has been developed as a non-regulatory tool for assisting landowners and land managers in our region to transition such land into permanent vegetative cover.

You can also access the map through this link.