Draft Preferred Futures Report out for comment

A project driven by community desire to protect the ‘specialness’ of the Kawhia and Aotea harbours has reached a significant milestone. The agencies involved in the Shore Futures project have just released the Draft Preferred Futures Report for public feedback.

The report is focused on a number of recommended actions that will help manage change within the Kawhia and Aotea catchments and harbours. The report is the culmination of more than three years of community consultation, analysis and information gathering by a multi-agency team.

Shore Futures is a project that involves Environment Waikato, Otorohanga, Waikato and Waitomo district councils, Federated Farmers and the Department of Conservation.

“If you live, work, own property or holiday in the Kawhia or Aotea catchments, the recommendations in the report could affect you and we’d really like to hear from you,” said Environment Waikato’s Shore Futures Governance Group representative Councillor Andra Neeley.

“We’d like to test with the community that we’ve got the right balance between protecting the natural environment and allowing for appropriate growth and development.”

It is intended that recommendations contained in the final report will be incorporated into district and regional plans and the Waikato Regional Policy Statement as they are reviewed.

The community will also have a chance to make submissions on proposed plan changes as these reviews occur. However, there are also ongoing opportunities for communities to play a vital role in implementing the recommended actions in the report.

The recommended actions in the draft report include:

· continuing to support land owners to protect outstanding landscapes and areas of high biodiversity value
· raising awareness of the historic heritage of the area, such as through events, signage heritage trails, or exploring opportunities to using local historic names for new roads

· reviewing district plans to promote development in existing settlements that is in character with those areas.

The report is available for comment at www.ew.govt.nz/shorefutures. The deadline for feedback is Monday 13 July 2009. The feedback provided by the community will be used to guide the Shore Futures Governance Group as it finalises the report, which is due out late 2009.