Walking the ‘Road Map’ of Global Stormwater Management for Urban Catchments

Seven years on from obtaining a global network consent for discharging stormwater from the urban catchment in Hastings, has the ‘road map’ adopted for the Hastings District Council, resulted in better environmental, and compliance outcomes?

Through the success of a Project Steering Group which helped the councils navigate the development of the stormwater catchment management plan, to the ongoing compliance and annual reporting required as part of the global consent, the ‘road map’ experienced a number of successes for the management of the global stormwater consent.

We learnt that a working compliance and consent holder relationship, founded on an agreed ‘Terms of Reference’ paved the way towards a practical and focused development of a stormwater catchment management plan.

A ‘collaborative’ approach was adopted, albeit that the respective authorities have a compliance and consent holder role to play.

Stretching across stakeholder and community engagement, resource management planning and education, the Hastings District Council faces challenges and opportunities as they head towards a new global consent regime to be in place by May 2022.

Further to the success of the Hastings experience, along with ‘lessons learnt’, the approach is now being used to ‘inform’ a similar approach for the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council.