It's time to have your say

The proposed changes to the Wairau Awatere District plan are now able to be commented on.

This is your opportunity to tell the Marlborough District Council what's right and what's wrong about the proposed changes and to make suggestions yourself if you don't think everything's been included.

This is king of a big deal since if you have an opinion on the noise generated by frost fans then now is the time for you to speak up.

You can get hold of a primer on the changes from here (beware 552kB). Just be aware that this is not the sum total of information on frost fans and the noise they generate. Your opinion and thoughts are important.

The submission form for putting forward your case can be found here. This is one of those silly electronic forms that people who think they are clever make up. If you want, just print it out, write on it and attach your comments to separate sheets.

You may rest assured that the NZ Winegrowers Chairman Stuart Smith has already had talks with the Council and indicated that they will be opposing the changes. So it's not enough to simply think that the proposed changes are good and then leave the Council to it. The need to hear from you that you support the changes (if you do) or that you may think that the changes don't go far enough.

Remember that the District plan need to be a robust document to allow the implementation of both the Resource Management Act and the Health Act for the community so that they are protected. The plan cannot be in contradiction with the Acts. If you think that being kept awake at night constitutes a nuisance, then the Council should make sure that this is reflected in the District Plan (nuisance is a specific term in the Health Act). Likewise if you believe that the volume of noise is unreasonable then the Council should make sure that this is reflected in the District Plan (The Resource Management Act states there is a duty on land owners to avoid unreasonable noise).

The final date for submission (must be received by the council) is the 23rd of October.

There is plenty of information on the form to assist in knowing the sort of thing to write, but feel free to place a comment on the blog if I can help.