Nutrient Trading Programme: Incorporation into Environment Bay of Plenty Regional Plan (Advice from Chapman Tripp)

This report provides an outline of the steps that will need to be taken to introduce a nutrient trading programme by way of a Plan Change to the Bay of Plenty Regional Plan. As discussed in a previous report, we believe that a trading policy can be introduced within the context of the Resource Management Act through this method.

To achieve this the Plan Change will need to:

• outline the issues motivating and the objectives of the Plan Change;
• define the land uses and discharge activities that will be covered by the Plan Change, and those that will be excluded;
• outline the basic provisions of the nutrient trading programme;
• specify how compliance will be monitored and enforced; and
• set up a governance body to facilitate future changes to the policy.