This is a quick newsletter to remind you of some deadlines for having your say.

Fast Track Approvals Bill - submissions close tomorrow

The closing date for submissions is Friday, 19 April 2024 

The chairperson of the Environment Committee is now calling for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill. The Fast-track Approvals Bill is an omnibus bill. It would enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects that are considered to have significant regional or national benefits.

The bill would establish a separate process for several approvals under different legislation including:

• resource consents, notices of requirement, and certificates of compliance (Resource Management Act 1991)
• concessions (Conservation Act 1987)
• authority to do anything otherwise prohibited under the Wildlife Act 1953
• archaeological authority (Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014)
• marine consents (Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012)
• land access (Crown Minerals Act 1991)
• aquaculture activity approvals (Fisheries Act 1996).

Clause 10 provides a detailed list of the approvals covered by this bill.

To access the fast-track approvals process, project owners would need to apply to the joint Ministers. A project would then be referred to an expert panel to assess the project and make a recommendation to the joint Ministers, who would then determine whether the approvals should be granted or declined.

Tell the Environment Committee what you think

Make a submission on the bill by 11.59pm on Friday, 19 April 2024.

HUTT CITY Draft Long Term Plan 2024-2034 

We’re carrying out this consultation to get your feedback on our draft 2024-2034 10 Year Plan. In the Consultation Document we’ve set out our direction and priorities across all areas – including infrastructure, our services and facilities, environmental initiatives, and overall financial planning.

We want to hear what you think about the proposals we’ve made in this draft plan. It’s one of our most important 10 Year Plans, so get involved and help us take the next steps!

Here you’ll find:

• Direct links to our feedback form – click through and have your say today!
• More information about the four key issues we are consulting on
• Supporting information about asset management, infrastructure, finances and where we've already made savings

The feedback form won’t take you long, depending on how much detail you’d like to give. You can provide as much or as little feedback as you like. We know you are busy, so we now have the functionality where you can save your online feedback form and come back to it later.

It’s a challenging time economically for everyone, which is why this is one of our most important 10 Year Plans. Help us take the next steps in making Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt a great place to live - now and into the future.

If you have any questions at all, then please email us on: haveyoursay@huttcity.govt.nz

Feedback closes at 5pm on Friday 3 May 2024.

Eastern Bays Climate Response Network on Facebook. Feel free to comment or post on topics related to the goals of this group on the Facebook page.

EBCRN is focussed on the need to act now to both mitigate the causes of accelerating climate change as well as prepare for the impact on our community. You can find out more about Eastbourne and the Network here. If you have climate related events, resources, requests, suggestions or any other information you would like to share please send it to us.

 Note: we create this newsletter "on the fly" as information and events come to our attention. Sometimes short notice of event dates mean the event passes before we send this out, so each email may be triggered but an upcoming event rather than a reasonable interval since the last release. Please feel free to give feedback on content and frequency of news, and send through items you might feel are of interest to the group.

You can forward this to someone if they would like to  join the Eastern Bays Climate Response Network and/or subscribe to the email updates