Aquaculture Variations - Variations 1 and 1A.

Previously, provision for aquaculture was removed from the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan prior to notification of the substantive portion of the plan with the intention of further reviewing the content. This review has now been completed and the variation process to the Plan underway.

On 2 December 2020, the Marlborough District Council publicly notified Variation 1: Marine Farming and Variation 1A: Finfish Farming. The closing date for public submissions was 26 February 2021.

A hearing was held in November 2021.

On 28 April 2023, the Aquaculture Hearing Panel provided its decision and recommendation to Council. The recommendations related to the withdrawal of discrete parts of Variation 1 and the withdrawal of Variation 1A. At a meeting of Full Council on 18 May 2023, these recommendations were adopted.

The decisions of Council on both Variation 1 and 1A were publicly notified on 19 May 2023 and the appeal period for Variation 1 closed 3 July 2023 with 31 notices of appeal being received.

The appeal documents are available on the 'Appeals on Variation 1 - Marine Farming' page on this portal.

Council is currently in the process of scoping an alternative to Variation 1A to include finfish farming provisions in the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan in consultation with Marlborough’s tangata whenua iwi. Any replacement will be notified as a variation and the people will have the ability to submit on any future variation.

If you are interested in this process, please email: variations@marlborough.govt.nz.

To view documents, click on 'Documents' tab.