LGOIMA Request Details: LG1890
Date received: 02/12/2019
Requested information: Protected trees under District Plan
Status: Complete
Date responded: 14/01/2020
Response:
1) Does your Council protect trees in its District Plan using Section 76 of the Resource Management Act? Yes
2) What term does Council use to describe trees protected within the District Plan? Councils use terms such Notable, Heritage and Significant. Manawatu District Plan refers to trees protected within the District Plan as “Trees with Heritage Value”
3) What evaluation process or method does Council use to determine whether trees are of sufficient importance to be protected within the District Plan? Manawatu District Council has not undertaken any Plan Changes related to Trees since 2002 when the Manawatu District Plan was made operative. However, a survey and assessment of Trees with Heritage value in the Manawatu District was undertaken by John Wakeling in 2018, this assessment used STEM to assess trees. STEM will be utilised by Council going forward.
4) If your Council uses the Standard Tree Evaluation Methodology (STEM), does it differ at all from the original 1996 mode and if so how? The 2018 report by John Wakeling uses the 1996 STEM mode.
5) If your Council uses STEM what is the threshold STEM score used to determine whether a tree should be protected in the District Plan? If your Council has no record of the STEM threshold last used, please supply the lowest STEM score for a District Plan protected tree. The 2018 report by John Wakeling uses the STEM threshold of 150 points or more.
6) If your Council uses another method or process to protect trees what is the threshold score for inclusion and/or any other requirement?
7) Is a landowner's consent required to protect a trees under any circumstances? If yes, please explain? District Plan provisions relating to trees have not been reviewed since the original plan was made operative in 2002, Council is unsure if any landowners consent was required to list the trees within the operative District Plan.
8) Under which provisions of the District Plan are trees protected, Heritage, General, or something else? Chapter 4 Heritage
9) Are District Plan protected trees categorised within a list, if so what terms are used and how? The District Plan protected trees are listed with Appendix 1D of the Manawatu District Plan as Trees with Heritage Values.
10) What year did the protected trees provisions of your District Plan become operative? 2002
13) Please supply the position title, name and contact details for the person who deals with protected tree issues at Council? Kirk Lightbody – Policy Planner – kirk.lightbody@mdc.govt.nz
2) What term does Council use to describe trees protected within the District Plan? Councils use terms such Notable, Heritage and Significant. Manawatu District Plan refers to trees protected within the District Plan as “Trees with Heritage Value”
3) What evaluation process or method does Council use to determine whether trees are of sufficient importance to be protected within the District Plan? Manawatu District Council has not undertaken any Plan Changes related to Trees since 2002 when the Manawatu District Plan was made operative. However, a survey and assessment of Trees with Heritage value in the Manawatu District was undertaken by John Wakeling in 2018, this assessment used STEM to assess trees. STEM will be utilised by Council going forward.
4) If your Council uses the Standard Tree Evaluation Methodology (STEM), does it differ at all from the original 1996 mode and if so how? The 2018 report by John Wakeling uses the 1996 STEM mode.
5) If your Council uses STEM what is the threshold STEM score used to determine whether a tree should be protected in the District Plan? If your Council has no record of the STEM threshold last used, please supply the lowest STEM score for a District Plan protected tree. The 2018 report by John Wakeling uses the STEM threshold of 150 points or more.
6) If your Council uses another method or process to protect trees what is the threshold score for inclusion and/or any other requirement?
7) Is a landowner's consent required to protect a trees under any circumstances? If yes, please explain? District Plan provisions relating to trees have not been reviewed since the original plan was made operative in 2002, Council is unsure if any landowners consent was required to list the trees within the operative District Plan.
8) Under which provisions of the District Plan are trees protected, Heritage, General, or something else? Chapter 4 Heritage
9) Are District Plan protected trees categorised within a list, if so what terms are used and how? The District Plan protected trees are listed with Appendix 1D of the Manawatu District Plan as Trees with Heritage Values.
10) What year did the protected trees provisions of your District Plan become operative? 2002
13) Please supply the position title, name and contact details for the person who deals with protected tree issues at Council? Kirk Lightbody – Policy Planner – kirk.lightbody@mdc.govt.nz