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Public Works Act 1981

Irrigation

208: Constitution of district, etc

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“Creating and changing irrigation districts through voting and official orders”

You can create an irrigation district if enough people vote for it or if all the landowners agree. The Governor-General can make this official by creating an Order in Council. This order will describe the area of the irrigation district and list the charges and rules for water supply.

The Minister can suggest changes to the irrigation district if they think it will help make the land more productive. These changes could include adding or removing land from the district, or changing the rules and charges. The Governor-General can then update the order to make these changes official.

Before the Minister can suggest these changes, they need to get agreement from the same percentage of people as was needed to create the district in the first place.

Any order made about an irrigation district is considered secondary legislation, which means it needs to follow special rules about how it’s published and shared with the public.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM48181.

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207: When and how poll to be taken, or

"How to vote on an irrigation scheme"

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208A: Reduction in size and abolition of irrigation district, or

"Changing or removing an area that gets special water for farming"

Part 19 Irrigation

208Constitution of district, etc

  1. If, of the valid votes cast at any poll taken under section 207, not less than the percentage of the valid votes stipulated in the public notification under section 202(1) required to be in favour of the proposed irrigation scheme are so in favour, or if all the persons who are ratepayers in respect of land in the proposed irrigation district advise the Minister in writing under section 203 of their agreement to the proposed irrigation scheme and the charges and other matters relating to the proposed scheme as so notified to them, the Governor-General may by Order in Council constitute as an irrigation district the land the Minister has notified under section 202 to be a proposed irrigation district and specify the charges, conditions of supply, and any other relevant matters as notified under the said section 202.

  2. Where the Minister is of the opinion that—

  3. it is practicable and desirable, and will result in increased productivity of the affected land (within or outside the irrigation district); and
    1. that there would be no more than minor detraction from the existing benefits within an irrigation district—
        1. the Minister may recommend to the Governor-General that the Order in Council constituting the irrigation district be amended—
      1. by altering the description of the land constituting the district to exclude some land or include more land; or
        1. by altering or adding to the charges, conditions of supply, or any other matter contained in the Order in Council—
            1. and the Governor-General may, by Order in Council amend accordingly the Order in Council constituting the irrigation district.

          1. No recommendation shall be made to the Governor-General under subsection (2) without the consent of the same percentage of the occupiers of the land to be excluded or included as was specified in the notice given under section 202(1)(a)(xiii) as the minimum percentage required to be in favour of the proposed irrigation scheme as a prerequisite to its construction.

          2. An order under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

          Compare
          • 1975 No 138 s 12
          Notes
          • Section 208(2): amended, on , by section 58 of the Public Works Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 43).
          • Section 208(4): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).