Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Otago regional councillors have voted to continue work on a land and water regional plan, despite ministers suggesting they pause until the government has confirmed its policy direction.
Council leaders met Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay last week, who reiterated their "strong preference" that the council did not notify a new land and water regional plan ahead of an update of the national policy statement for freshwater.
Five councillors have spoken of their concerns about continuing to work towards a cancelled deadline of 31 October to notify the regional plan, which is at odds with government policy.
The government has extended the deadline to the end of 2027.
An update shared with councillors said ministers at the meeting were not able to share ideas for the new policy statement before they went to Cabinet, but said they would work with officials to try and provide more information on the process.
They also offered to work with the Otago Regional Council to discuss options to resolve issues that could arise if the regional plan process was paused.
At an extraordinary public meeting held on Friday afternoon, a motion to suspend work on the regional plan lost by five votes to seven.
Councillors will now decide next month whether to go ahead and publicly notify the proposed plan, or consider pausing its progress.
They also moved a recommendation that staff engage with officials to discuss the national policy statement for freshwater management review process, and identify actions to address the issues associated with Plan Change 6AA and Plan Change 7 should a new land and water regional plan not be notified.
Staff are required to report back to the council ahead of the decision on notification of the plan.