Consents & Designations
- The scheme must obtain nearly 100 resource consents. These are broadly grouped into two main areas – natural resource related and land use related – and will be considered by Environment Canterbury and Selwyn District Council.
- Environment Canterbury will deliberate on consents concerning how CPWL will ‘take’ water from rivers, divert it into channels, discharge it back into the environment, and the effect of scheme irrigation on groundwater. Selwyn District Council is responsible for resource consents that relate to effects on communities, infrastructure and property. Selwyn is also responsible for building consents (for dam structures and intakes) and any designations over land.
- December 2001: The Christchurch City Council and Selwyn District Council (acting as the Central Plains Water Enhancement Steering Committee) lodged the ‘take’ consent applications for the proposed CPW scheme. These were deemed notifiable by Environment Canterbury but remained ‘parked’ for several years because, 1. the CPW Trust had to form the company (CPWL) and raise share capital to fund the resource consent application phase, and 2. Environment Canterbury asked the CPW Trust to complete its ‘use’ applications so that both ‘take’ and ‘use’ aspects could be considered as one consent package and at a single hearing.
- June 2005: CPWL lodged a ‘take’ consent application for water from the proposed upper Waimakariri intake site.
- November 2005: CPWL lodged its accompanying ‘use’ consent applications and AEE (Assessment of Environmental Effects) report. The AEE covers how the scheme will impact (and mitigate its effects) on flora and fauna, local communities, river and underground water quality and quantity. Other information of relevance to the resource consent hearings are the potential economic and recreational benefits of the scheme.
- November 2005: Minister for the Environment advised that CPWL’s application to become a requiring authority has been approved. Gaining requiring authority status is a normal step in the process for any major infrastructure development proposal where construction may not immediately take place. CPWL will only apply to Selwyn District Council for consents for land use (for the scheme components) and designations for those components of the scheme which must be in a set location such as the dam, intakes and headrace canals. Selwyn District Council is required to initiate a submission and hearing process that is just as rigorous and transparent as the more familiar resource consent process. The public can make submissions on the requirement for a designation in exactly the same way as they do on resource consents.
CPWL will only apply to Selwyn District Council for consents for land use (for the scheme components) and designations for those components of the scheme which must be in a set location such as the dam, intakes and headrace canals. Selwyn District Council is required to initiate a submission and hearing process that is just as rigorous and transparent as the more familiar resource consent process. The public can make submissions on the requirement for a designation in exactly the same way as they do on resource consents.
CPW is one of several irrigation schemes approved as requiring authorities in recent years, including the South Canterbury Waterways, Doubtless Bay Water Supply Company and North Otago Water Harvesting and Irrigation Company.
- November 2005 till present: Environment Canterbury and Selwyn District Council reviewed the suite of consent applications to be certain they are complete and therefore suitable for public notification.
- November 2006: Selwyn District Council publicly notified Central Plains Water’s land use consents and notices of requirements for designations.
- March 2007: Central Plains Water Trust alleviated concerns of many landowners by lodging resource consent applications and a notice of requirement to build a 10km tunnel to supply the irrigation scheme’s storage lake.
- February 2008: A joint Environment Canterbury / Selwyn District Council hearing to consider Central Plains Water Limited's resource consent applications commenced at the Christchurch Town Hall. The hearing panel will either grant the consents (under certain conditions) or decline them. The panel’s decision is open to appeal to the Environment Court.