Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

The Resource Management Act planning process is convoluted, and costly and time-consuming.

Finally, after a two-year development process, the Regional Direction and Delivery Committee of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council has signed off the Proposed Regional Coastal Environment Plan for public notification.

This plan is important because it sets objectives for our coastal environment, and policies and rules for what can and can't be done in its environs.

The plan covers matters like development, dredging, reclamation and mangrove management.

The committee also signed off a Coastal State of the Environment report, which provides an overview on the state of our coastal environment, and gives context to the policy direction included in the Coastal Environment Plan.

The State of the Environment report will be released in the next few weeks and provides a fascinating snapshot of the issues and health of our coastal resources and landscapes.

The Regional Coastal Environment Plan development process has been intensive – a draft plan was released for full public consultation last May; and the plan changed as a result of feedback from the consultation process.

Ongoing engagement with stakeholders and interested parties on aspects of the draft Plan continued, but completion of the plan was delayed by appeals on Variation 1 (Coastal Chapter) of the Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement.

Now it has been signed off for public notification of the Coastal Plan, we must follow the process in Schedule 1 of the RMA.

The official submission process for the Proposed Coastal Environment Plan will open on June 24, 2014, and close a month later.

There will be a period for further submissions in October/November following distribution of summarised submission points to submitters who can submit again.

This will be followed by public hearings in early-2015. It will be at least a three-year journey before we have a confirmed new plan.

If you have any views on this, or any other issue, please contact me on neesj@xtra.co.nz or ring me on 07 579 5150. Or you can check out my website at www.janenees.co.nz