Canterbury's proposed rates hike - a move in the right direction, or anti-farmer?

Wednesday, 24 February 2021

A Government crackdown on certain farming practices could see a sharp rise for Canterbury's rates.

Canterbury regional council’s controversial rates hike will fund three years of planning for national freshwater reforms, but it has attracted the support of environmentalists and the ire of farmers.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) released its draft long-term plan on Monday, in which it proposed what councillors called some of the highest rates increases in the country.

When it opens for consultation in March, Cantabrians can have their say on a preferred rates increase of 24.5 per cent, an average annual hike of $136, or 18 per cent, an average of $110 more.

ECan chair Jenny Hughey said the sharp increase was being driven by a rising tide of government expectations, including delivering programmes like the new National Policy Statement for freshwater management.

Canterbury dairy farmer Chris Ford is concerned about the Government's new freshwater reforms and what impact it will have on his business and the wider community. (First published December 2020)

* Freshwater reforms expected to cut Ashburton farm profits by 80 per cent

* $700m 'long-term' waterways package could restore swimming at Lake Ellesmere

But Canterbury’s farming community fears it will unfairly cop the public’s blame and, if too many people call for the lower rates option, that farmers will miss out on vital support.

North Canterbury Federated Farmers president Cameron Henderson said anti-farmer sentiment was completely misdirected.

“Please don’t look to farmers as the ones who’ve caused this … This is purely a central government-driven issue. This is about [them] wanting things to be done their way.

“Local farmers have been onboard with changes to improve waterways for years.”

A decade of work had already gone into ECan’s Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan, which had the region’s farmers working towards getting freshwater nitrate levels down to 6.9 micrograms of nitrogen per litre.

But Henderson said the new regulations, which require it to be 2.4mcg or less, completely shifted the goalposts.

Two Ngāi Tahu representatives will be allowed to sit in on all Environment Canterbury meetings. (File photo)

“Canterbury spent $100 million on that plan, now it feels like it was all for nothing.

“I can’t express my disappointment enough.”

To make matters worse, Henderson said if Cantabrians supported the lower rates level, there would be less support to help landowners with compliance and implementation of the new framework.

“There’re two parts to implementing a change.

Forest & Bird’s Canterbury regional manager Nicky Snoyink says ratepayers are bearing the brunt of polluter's actions.

“You can write a rule, but without support and the transfer of knowledge to implement it, you can’t make it happen… They need to go hand-in-hand.”

Almost all the $35m-odd allocated for ECan’s water and land portfolio budget for the coming year will come from general rates.

Fifteen per cent of that budget will fund the creation of a new Land and Water Regional Plan by December 2024 to meet the new requirements.

Included in this is community consultation costs, to make sure freshwater goals meet both community expectations and government bottom lines. It also includes the actual plan writing and hearings costs.

ECan will increase what it spends on monitoring ecosystems and water quality, and there is also funding for two programmes to help landowners adapt to the increasing regulations.

The council will also hire more compliance officers, although they will work across the regulatory spectrum rather than just enforcing freshwater rules.

For environment campaigners, the changes cannot come soon enough.

Forest & Bird’s Canterbury and West Coast regional manager Nicky Snoyink said many of Canterbury’s waterways were now in a dire state.

“Poor water quality and low flows have led to habitat loss for many native species, for example 76 per cent of New Zealand’s native freshwater fish are threatened and at risk of extinction.”

The new freshwater regulations were a welcome step towards restoring them, but at the moment ratepayers were subsidising environmental law-breakers, both rural and urban alike, she said.

“ECan and other councils should be looking to recover costs from polluters and eco-vandals in the first instance … we need an end to wet bus tickets, and to see strong fines and penalties.

“We can’t afford to not protect the environment, but we need to see an end to the system that lets polluters and lawbreakers get off scot-free, and the rest of us pick up their tab.”