Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

Two weekends ago I attended my 14th Bluegreens annual forum at Tatum Park, Levin.

You may well ask – what is the Bluegreens? Well the Bluegreens is the Environmental Policy Advisory Group for the National Party. And what makes it special is that we have always invited the likes of the Environmental Defence Society, Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF and other recognised environmental activists to take an active part in all of our forums. I have to say that we have never been disappointed in their active participation in our environmental policy discussions.

Our annual forums have always been successful, in not only consistently getting over 100 participants to attend, but also getting great media participation. I don't think any of this year's participants were disappointed, with excellent panel discussions ranging from the latest ‘RMA Reform' discussion paper and ‘Freshwater Management', to ‘Our National Cycleways' and ‘A Pest Free New Zealand'.

Recently I stepped down after chairing the Bluegreens nationally for over seven years, but I am still actively involved, and chaired a forum session on the RMA reforms. With both Minister Amy Adams and Minister Dr Nick Smith in attendance, my panel included Alan Dormer (chair of the Ministerial Technical Advisory Group for RMA Reforms; Gary Taylor, executive director of the Environmental Defence Society; and Connor English, chief executive of Federated Farmers.

It was an informative and balanced discussion, with general agreement that Minister Adams' Discussion Document probably heralds the most exciting and game-changer environmental legislation in the past 25 years. No-one was contesting that the 1991 Resource Management Act has failed New Zealanders, but conversely it has been somewhat hijacked in its interpretation by ever-increasingly risk averse local government bureaucrats, as well as by radical activists.

Minister Adams has courageously tackled this reform head on, and our local community now has the opportunity for input, first at a public meeting held at Classic Flyers last Monday, but also by making a submission. Submissions on the RMA reforms close on April 2 and for the Freshwater reforms on April 8.

Details are available on the Ministry for the Environment website: www.mfe.govt.nz

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me: andrew@vond.co.nz or visit www.vond.co.nz