Rules and regulations for landowners
The Proposed Regional Plan for Northland has rules that cover a variety of on-farm activities. The rules aim to help protect our environment, while at the same time provide for essential work to be done. In addition to our Northland rules, there are national rules that apply to these activities.
Always check the rules before you do the work
Before doing any work on farm, check the rules to make sure you comply with our permitted activity status or if you may need to apply for a resource consent under the regional or national rules.
If in doubt about whether your proposed work will need a consent or not, please contact our friendly staff – we’re happy to help.
List of common activities
The list below has common activities that farmers might want to undertake and points you to the relevant rules in the Regional Plan and National Standards.
Bear in mind it’s not a list of every rule in the Proposed Regional Plan – check the full plan or ask us if you’re not sure whether rules apply to your proposed work.
| Activity | Proposed Plan rule | National Standards |
| Activities in the beds of lakes and rivers | C.2.1 | |
| Extraction of material from rivers | C.2.1.2 | |
| Maintenance of the free flow of water in rivers and mitigating bank erosion | C.2.1.3 | |
| Demolition and removal of existing structures | C.2.1.7 | |
| Construction and installation of structures | C.2.1.8 | |
| Minor river bank protection works | C.2.1.9 | |
| Activities affecting wetlands | C.2.2 | |
| General conditions* | C.2.3 | |
| All activities in or around wetlands or water bodies | National Environmental Standards for Freshwater 2020 | |
| Damming and diverting water | C.3 | NES - Drainage of natural wetlands |
| Land drainage |
C.4.1 | NES - Drainage of natural wetlands |
| Land drainage and flood control general conditions |
C.4.1.9 | |
| Taking and use of water | C.5 | NES Part 3 - Other activities |
| Discharges to water |
C.6 | NES Part 3 - Other activities |
| Domestic discharges | C.6.1 | |
| Farm or horticulture discharges | C.6.3 | |
| Agrichemicals and vertebrate toxic agents | C.6.5 | |
| Burning | C.7.1 | |
| Livestock exclusion | C.8.1 | RMA (Stock Exclusion) Regulations |
| Land preparation (cultivation) | C.8.2.1 | NES - Arable and horticultural land use |
| Earthworks | C.8.3.1 | NES - Part 3 |
| Vegetation areas | C.8.4.2 | NES - Part 3 |
| Feedlots and stockholding areas | NES Subpart 1 | |
| Agricultural intensification | NES Subpart 2 | |
| Application of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser on pastoral land | NES Subpart 4 |
* Note that these general conditions apply to all activities in the beds of lakes and rivers