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

Go to the Proposed Regional Plan document and information