By Kathy Heazlewood

The Taranaki Regional Council is Taranaki's major environmental agency. Serving a community of 102,858 people, it undertakes the sustainable management of our natural and physical resources.

Its mission for the region is to "promote the sustainable use, development and protection of Taranaki's natural and physical resources" and to "safeguard Taranaki's people and resources from natural and other hazards". (Taranaki Regional Council, 2001 p.1)

What do they do?

The council's main activities are:

• Air quality
  - Managing the potential effects of  discharges to air
• Coastal management
• Managing coastal environment activities
• Water quality and allocation
  - Managing the use, development and protection of fresh water resources
• Land management
  - Promoting sustainable land use practices and soil conservation
• River control and flood protection
  - Maintaining flood warning systems
  - Providing flood control advice
  - Recording rainfall and river levels throughout the region
  - Rainfall and river level data is available here
• Pest animal and pest plant management
  - Controlling possums (which are the main pest animal in the region)
  - Providing advice on other pest animals
  - Controlling pest plants and providing advice and education. Click here for more information
• Resource consents – monitoring and enforcement
  - Administering consents for activities
  - Monitoring their effect on the environment
• Resource investigations and monitoring
  - Monitoring the state of the environment
• Emergency management
  - Providing regional civil defence capability.
• Resource policy and planning
  - Development of policy and plans.
• Land transport and harbour management 
  - Regional land transport planning and promotion
  - Facilitating the safe navigation of Port Taranaki
  - Managing response to marine oil spills
• Port company ownership
  - The council owns 100 % of the Taranaki port company, Westgate, on behalf of the region.
• Recreation, culture, and heritage
  - Undertaking regionally significant projects
  - Maintenance and enhancement of Taranaki's three regional gardens
  - Development of Yarrow Stadium

Image: Jane Dove

Local Government shake-up

The Taranaki Regional Council originated as result of local government reorganisation in New Zealand. The Council was formed on 1 November 1989 with the amalgamation of the Taranaki Catchment Board, the Taranaki United Council, the Taranaki Harbours Board - and 16 small special-purpose local bodies that were abolished under the Local Government Amendment Act (No 3) 1988.

When it was first formed the council was made up from 11 elected members. Four represented New Plymouth, three represented North Taranaki, one represented Stratford and three represented South Taranaki. (Taranaki Regional Council, 2001 p.3)

A decision was made to base the headquarters in the central location of Stratford which would "provide a good compromise in respect of overcoming traditional south vs north Taranaki community of interest conflicts". (Taranaki Regional Council, 2001 p.6)

Taranaki - Our Place, Our Future

"State of the environment monitoring informs us and makes us awake to what is happening in the environment and to our role in those events. From such a base we have the opportunity to make good decisions to protect and enhance our environment for all." (Taranaki Regional Council, 2003, p.2)

The Taranaki Regional Council has published:
"Taranaki - Our Place, Our Future: Report on the state of the environment of the Taranaki region - 2003".

This uses gathered monitoring data to look at changes to the Taranaki environment.

The report looks back on environmental trends and changes over the six years since the last state of the environment report was prepared in 1996. It is also a "forward-looking" document. The report will help the community to answer questions such as: What is the stage of Taranaki's environment and what direction is it headed in the future? Have the policies and programmes set by the Taranaki Regional Council been effective in protecting the environment and will they continue to be effective? What changes may be needed to protect the standard and quality of environment that Taranaki people expect? (Taranaki Regional Council, 2003, p.3)

It's mostly good news!

The Taranaki Regional Council has good information to report. The majority of indicators in the report show that environmental quality in the Taranaki region is still high.  We now know that:

• Water quality in our rivers and streams remains high
• Our soils are healthy and productive.
• Air emissions from industries continue to improve and, generally, we have excellent air quality.
• We have great coastal water quality.
• The natural and historic heritage form an important part of Taranaki's unique character.
  (Taranaki Regional Council, 2003, p.3)

Where can I look at the report?

The report is available in a number of different formats. The full report and a summary report are available in hardcopy, on CD Rom or can be viewed on the Taranaki Regional Council webpage.  All formats are available for viewing at Puke Ariki in the Taranaki Research Centre. Information is presented in easy, understandable terms and the report is illustrated with a number of maps, diagrams and photographs demonstrating environmental conditions and trends.