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Natural Environment Bill

Foundations - Environmental limits - Breach of environmental limits

67: Breach of environmental limits

You could also call this:

"What happens when environmental rules are broken"

Illustration for Natural Environment Bill

If an environmental limit is broken, you must manage it according to the rules in this part of the bill. A regional council must tell the public about any breach of an environmental limit and what caused it. The council must also explain how bad the breach is. If an environmental limit is broken or might be broken, the regional council must make a plan to fix it. The council must look at how resources are being used and decide if it needs to change anything. This could include setting limits on resource use or changing rules in a natural environment plan. The regional council must follow these rules even if the breach happens because of something allowed by national standards. You can find more information about these national standards in section 86 of the bill. The council must take action to fix the breach, no matter what caused it.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1520985.

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Topics:
Environment and resources > ConservationEnvironment and resources > Town planning
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66: Avoiding breach of environmental limit, or

"Stopping councils from harming the environment"

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"National instruments help guide New Zealand's environmental rules and policies"

Part 2Foundations
Environmental limits: Breach of environmental limits

67Breach of environmental limits

  1. A breach of an environmental limit must be managed in accordance with the requirements of this subpart.

  2. A regional council must publicly notify, in accordance with any requirements in national standards made under this subpart,—

  3. any breach of an environmental limit; and
    1. the cause and extent of the breach.

      1. If an environmental limit is breached or is likely to be breached, a regional council must—

      2. prepare an action plan detailing how the council will manage natural resource use to remedy the breach; and
        1. review any relevant cap on resource use; and
          1. take any other action the council considers necessary to remedy the breach, including—
            1. setting a cap on resource use, if it has not been set; or
              1. preparing or changing a rule in a natural environment plan; or
                1. reviewing the conditions of a permit and making any necessary adjustments; or
                  1. changing the way that natural resources are allocated.

                  2. To avoid doubt, a regional council must comply with subsection (2) regardless of whether a breach of an environmental limit or an over-allocation is a result of the use of an infrastructure pathway established by national standards made under section 86.