Regional Plans

All regional air plans (and also water or land plans) have rules relating to agrichemical use.  These rules often include a requirement for commercial users of agrichemicals to have a Growsafe or equivalent certificate.

Growsafe has summarised the requirements of each regional plan, or you can view the full plan online.

Region Summary document Link to full plan and where to find agrichemical section
North Island  
Northland Growsafe Summary - Northland Regional Plan for Northland - see Section C.6.5 and H.10
Auckland Growsafe Summary - Auckland Auckland Unitary Plan - see Chapter E34
Waikato Growsafe Summary - Waikato Waikato Regional Plan - see Module 6.2
Bay of Plenty Growsafe Summary - Bay of Plenty Bay of Plenty Natural Resources Plan - Air Rule 18, Land Rule 21 and Water Rule 16. 
East Coast Growsafe Summary - East Coast Tairawhiti Resource Management Plan - see Part C1-4
Hawkes Bay Growsafe Summary - Hawkes Bay Hawkes Bay Regional Resource Management Plan - see Chapter 6.4 Rules 9 and 10
Taranaki Growsafe Summary - Taranaki Regional Air Quality Plan for Taranaki - see Rules 56-58
Regional Freshwater Plan for Taranaki - see rules 33-34
Horizons Growsafe Summary - Horizons One Plan - Horizons Regional Council - see Chapter 15-1 and 15-2 Discharges to Air, Land and Water
Wellington Growsafe Summary - Wellington GWRC Natural Resources Plan - see Section 5.1.13
South Island  
Nelson Growsafe Summary - Nelson Nelson Air Quality Plan - see Chapter 6 Air Quality Rules, in particular AQr.56 and AQ7
Nelson Resource Management Plan - see FWr.23
Tasman Growsafe Summary - Tasman Tasman Resource Management Plan - see Part VI, Chapter 36
Marlborough Growsafe Summary - Marlborough Marlborough Environment Plan - see Volume 2, in particular chapters 3 and 8
Canterbury Growsafe Summary - Canterbury Canterbury Air Regional Plan - see Rules 7.77 - 7.79
Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan - see Rule 5.22
West Coast Growsafe Summary - West Coast West Coast Regional Land and Water Plan - see Section 11, in particular rules 77 and 78
Otago Growsafe Summary - Otago Otago Regional Plan: Air - see Part IV Rules, in particular rule 16.3.9
Southland Growsafe Summary - Southland

Southland Regional Air Plan - see Chapter 6
Southland Water and Land Plan - see Rules 9 and 10 for application into or onto water

 

Resources for planners

The following documents have been developed to assist with the regional council policy and enforcement roles in relation to the safe, responsible and effective use of agrichemicals.  Please contact us on [email protected] if you have any enquiries about regional plan requirements relating to agrichemicals use.

Spray investigation - checklist for permitted activity conditions (final 2023) - This document provides guidance to regional council staff investigating a spray drift complaint and looks at what risk management activities the applicator should have undertaken to minimise the risk of off-target spray drift.

Guidance note and proposed model plan rule for agrichemical use - This document provides a suggested approach to drafting the agrichemical use section of a regional resource management plan with a focus on using NZS 8409 and a risk-management approach rather than detailed prescriptive rules.