Latest news with #EastlandWoodCouncil
RNZ News
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- RNZ News
Gisborne truck route to quieten as council changes permits
The council added new maps to the New Zealand Transport Agency's (NZTA) 'H' permit system in July 2024, excluding Back Ormond and Ormond Roads, which is a main route for logging trucks to get to the port. Photo: Supplied / Paul Rickard A truck route "in a constant state of deterioration" might become a lot quieter after a Gisborne District Council decision regarding heavy vehicle permits. During council meetings last year, councillors and community members raised safety concerns around trucks travelling along Back Ormond and Ormond Roads. A man who drove daily along Ormond Road to and from work said he had seen too many "near-misses" involving schoolchildren. In July, the council added new maps to the Transport Agency's (NZTA) "H" permit system, which exclude Back Ormond and Ormond Roads. Trucks that carry over 44 tonnes require "H" permits to be driven on roads. These permits were valid for up to 24 months, a council Regional Transport Committee report said. Once these expired, it would be "a decision of Council whether to continue or not". "Over the coming year or so, trucks should stop using this route," the report said. Eastland Wood Council chairman Julian Kohn said the concern was over traffic coming out of the Waimata Valley and Ormond area. "In the next 10-15 years, there's going to be a very significant increase in the volumes of wood coming out of our forests from the Waimata-Hokoroa-Tauwhareparae area, not only from wood council members, but from other forest owners." According to the report, the Ormond Road-Back Ormond Road route is "a local road which the council pays 32 percent towards maintaining and is in a constant state of deterioration because of heavy vehicle traffic". The report said traffic data captured at the port reflected the number of log trucks across the road network, which was 87 percent rural, most of which was built on "unstable ground, not built for heavy vehicles and sustained significant damage from weather events". It also said the number of heavy vehicles to support roading recovery after Cyclone Gabrielle had increased significantly since a 2017 freight report. The move regarding "H" permits on Ormond and Back Ormond Roads comes as the council looks to get safety work funding for "a preferred route" for heavy goods vehicles along State Highway 2 and SH35 (including Awapuni Road and Customhouse Street). The report said the council approved the route in 2020, provided NZTA made "appropriate safety improvements ... at key locations along the way". During consultation in 2020, the "preferred route" received 57 percent support. However, there were significant reasons given for supporting a dual route, such as limiting adverse effects on Kiwi Pools, Awapuni School and residents, beach and surf lifesaving clubs, sports facilities and the Oneroa walkway/cycleway, the report said. To date, NZTA had not allocated any funding for the safety improvements, so the council was working to secure the funding by using transport modelling to demonstrate potential increases and identify "priority safety improvements". No longer permitting heavy vehicle use of Ormond and Back Ormond Rds would allow the council to "monitor enforcement and the impact and use the data for modelling purposes". Safety issues identified in the preferred heavy vehicle route, which Gisborne District Council consulted on in 2022 and said it received "majority support". Photo: Supplied / Gisborne District Council Report According to the report, since 2019, the number of logging trucks to the port have averaged 800 a day (400 each way). In December last year, the port gained consent to build a twin berth and expects a 42 percent increase in freight movement. "With the port's ability to take logs more consistently with a twin berth by 2030, the number of logging truck movements on the region's network is going to increase from 800 daily average to a peak of 1250, a 56 percent increase." The port said in its Traffic around Eastland Port 2022 resource consent application brief that it did not anticipate a large increase in peak truck volumes, rather, more consistent volumes closer to peak, according to the report. No funding was set aside by NZTA in the 2024-27 National Land Transport Plan for Tāirawhiti state highways to improve road safety at the Hirini Street T-intersection to access Eastland Port, or any other safety upgrades required to safely implement the preferred route, the report said. Eastland Port supported NZTA and council upgrading Hirini Street. "They stated busier days could become more common and the congested periods could become longer before the intersection is upgraded." LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
02-06-2025
- Politics
- 1News
Environmentalists see forestry changes as dangerous step for Tairāwhiti
Tairāwhiti environmentalists have called changes for commercial forestry under proposed Resource Management Act reforms "a slap in the face" and a return to weaker forestry regulations. Local groups are preparing to make submissions on proposed changes to the way forestry is managed after consultation on the Resource Management Act opened on Thursday. The proposals would make it harder for councils to have their own discretion in setting stricter rules to control tree planting. Gisborne District Council said the proposed changes grant both "real opportunities" and "some challenges". The Eastland Wood Council is still considering its options around submitting. ADVERTISEMENT Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT), the group behind a 12,000-signature petition that triggered the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use (MILU) in Tairāwhiti and Wairoa, claimed the Government was relaxing "already permissive forestry rules". The inquiry, published in May 2023, followed the destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and other major storms, when woody debris, forestry slash and sedimentation flooded the region's land, waterways and infrastructure. At the time of the inquiry's findings, the previous Government announced actions to reduce the risk of a Gabrielle repeat. MTT spokeswoman and Ruatōria resident Tui Warmenhoven said, "We were promised stronger protections – what we're getting is deregulation dressed as reform". The proposed changes were "a slap in the face to the hundreds of whānau who've already paid the price for poor forestry regulations," said Warmenhoven in a group statement. Another part of the proposed changes will require a Slash Mobilisation Risk Assessment as part of all harvest management plans. It would also consider refining requirements to remove all slash above a certain size from forest cutovers. ADVERTISEMENT MTT welcomed the proposed requirement for Slash Mobilisation Risk Assessments, however, it warned "this would be ineffective without enforceable planning requirements and local oversight". "A slash assessment without an afforestation plan is meaningless – it's a partial fix that ignores the root of the problem," said Warmenhoven. "We've already seen what happens when forestry is left to regulate itself and the problems with planting shallow-rooting pine on erosion-prone slopes. We are also concerned about the removal of references to woody debris, given that whole pine plantations collapsed during Cyclone Gabrielle and still line many waterways in the region." Last September, Eastland Wood Council chairman Julian Kohn said forestry firms were "bleeding money," with many companies finding Gisborne too costly to invest in. Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Kohn said Eastland Wood Council was still considering whether to submit its own response or work with other council members to make submissions. "We've been working closely with the minister and advocating for what we see needs to be real change in respect of some of the causes in the NES-CF [National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry]," said Kohn. "Our real concern is that the way the council is treating many of these consents and these enforcement orders are literally sending these forest companies to the wall." ADVERTISEMENT He said forestry companies would close if things continued the way they were, which would leave forests unmanaged and unharvested. "Next time we have a rain event, then some of those trees which have been locked up are going to come down the waterways, which is exactly what everybody wants to try to prevent." Gisborne District Councils director of sustainable futures, Jocelyne Allen, said the consultation documents came "as no surprise" as they were broad and aligned with what the council had seen in the Cabinet paper and Expert Advisory Group report. "The packages cover infrastructure, the primary sector, freshwater, and urban growth, all areas that matter deeply to our region. "There are real opportunities here, but also some challenges, and we're taking the time to work through both carefully," Allen said. The council intends to submit a response and will be taking a strategic and collaborative approach to doing so, including engaging with tangata whenua, whānau, hapū and iwi across the region and working through its sector networks, particularly the Local Government Special Interest Groups and Te Uru Kahika, said Allen. Before the announcement of the proposed changes, in an email to Local Democracy Reporting on Monday, Primary Industries and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said forestry played an important role in the economy and provided many jobs on the East Coast. ADVERTISEMENT "The Government is working closely with the Gisborne District Council and respected members of the forestry industry, farming and iwi to manage and reduce risk through better and more practical rules rather than blanket restrictions or bans." He said they are reviewing slash management practices and will amend the NES-CF so councils can focus on the most at-risk areas, lower costs and deliver better social and environmental outcomes. "We want them to focus on high-risk areas, which is what Gisborne District Council is currently doing, rather than suggesting that there should no longer be any forestry in the Tairāwhiti region," he said. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
02-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Environmentalists see forestry changes as dangerous step for Tai Rāwhiti
A Gisborne beach covered in wood debris after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: Supplied / Manu Caddie Tai Rāwhiti environmentalists have called changes for commercial forestry under proposed Resource Management Act reforms "a slap in the face" and a return to weaker forestry regulations. Local groups are preparing to make submissions on proposed changes to the way forestry is managed after consultation on the Resource Management Act opened on Thursday. The proposals would make it harder for councils to have their own discretion in setting stricter rules to control tree planting. Gisborne District Council (GDC) said the proposed changes grant both "real opportunities" and "some challenges". The Eastland Wood Council (EWC) is still considering its options around submitting. Mana Taiao Tai Rāwhiti (MTT), the group behind a 12,000-signature petition that triggered the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use (MILU) in Tai Rāwhiti and Wairoa, claimed the Government was relaxing "already permissive forestry rules". The inquiry, published in May 2023, followed the destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and other major storms, when woody debris, forestry slash and sedimentation flooded the region's land, waterways and infrastructure. At the time of the inquiry's findings, the previous Government announced actions to reduce the risk of a Gabrielle repeat. MTT spokeswoman and Ruatōria resident Tui Warmenhoven said, "We were promised stronger protections - what we're getting is deregulation dressed as reform." The proposed changes were "a slap in the face to the hundreds of whānau who've already paid the price for poor forestry regulations", said Warmenhoven in a group statement. Another part of the proposed changes will require a Slash Mobilisation Risk Assessment as part of all harvest management plans. It would also consider refining requirements to remove all slash above a certain size from forest cutovers. MTT welcomed the proposed requirement for Slash Mobilisation Risk Assessments, however, it warned "this would be ineffective without enforceable planning requirements and local oversight". "A slash assessment without an afforestation plan is meaningless - it's a partial fix that ignores the root of the problem," said Warmenhoven. "We've already seen what happens when forestry is left to regulate itself and the problems with planting shallow-rooting pine on erosion-prone slopes. We are also concerned about the removal of references to woody debris, given that whole pine plantations collapsed during Cyclone Gabrielle and still line many waterways in the region." Last September, EWC chairman Julian Kohn said forestry firms were "bleeding money", with many companies finding Gisborne too costly to invest in. Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Kohn said EWC was still considering whether to submit its own response or work with other council members to make submissions. "We've been working closely with the minister and advocating for what we see needs to be real change in respect of some of the causes in the NES-CF [National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry]," said Kohn. "Our real concern is that the way the council is treating many of these consents and these enforcement orders are literally sending these forest companies to the wall." He said forestry companies would close if things continued the way they were, which would leave forests unmanaged and unharvested. "Next time we have a rain event, then some of those trees which have been locked up are going to come down the waterways, which is exactly what everybody wants to try to prevent." GDC's director of sustainable futures, Jocelyne Allen, said the consultation documents came "as no surprise" as they were broad and aligned with what the council had seen in the Cabinet paper and Expert Advisory Group report. "The packages cover infrastructure, the primary sector, freshwater, and urban growth, all areas that matter deeply to our region. "There are real opportunities here, but also some challenges, and we're taking the time to work through both carefully," she said. The council intends to submit a response and will be taking a strategic and collaborative approach to doing so, including engaging with tangata whenua, whānau, hapū and iwi across the region and working through its sector networks, particularly the Local Government Special Interest Groups and Te Uru Kahika, said Allen. Before the announcement of the proposed changes, in an email to Local Democracy Reporting on Monday, Primary Industries and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said forestry played an important role in the economy and provided many jobs on the East Coast. "The Government is working closely with the GDC and respected members of the forestry industry, farming and iwi to manage and reduce risk through better and more practical rules rather than blanket restrictions or bans." He said they are reviewing slash management practices and will amend the NES-CF so councils can focus on the most at-risk areas, lower costs and deliver better social and environmental outcomes. "We want them to focus on high-risk areas, which is what GDC is currently doing, rather than suggesting that there should no longer be any forestry in the Tai Rāwhiti region," he said. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. 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