Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa v Bay of Plenty Regional Council

The case of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa v Bay of Plenty Regional Council was heard by the High Court of Australia, and involved a dispute over the approval of a water bottling plant by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa, the applicant, sought a review of the Council’s decision to grant a resource consent to Creswell Springs Ltd for the expansion of the water bottling plant. The central issue was whether the consent application should have been assessed under the Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement and the Bay of Plenty Regional Natural Resources Plan, both of which were in force at the time of the application. The Environment Court had previously determined that the consent application should be assessed under these planning instruments, and the Council subsequently granted the consent. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa challenged the decision on the basis that the consent should have been assessed under a different planning instrument, namely the National Water Policy Statement on Freshwater Management.

The legal issues before the court were primarily focused on the interpretation of sections 104 and 127 of the Resource Management Act (RMA) and their interaction with the relevant regional planning instruments. Specifically, the court had to determine the extent to which the applications for resource consent and variations to existing consent conditions must be assessed under the Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement and the Bay of Plenty Regional Natural Resources Plan. The court was also required to consider whether the Environment Court had erred in its interpretation of section 104(1)(b)(v) and (vi) of the RMA.

In its judgment, the High Court held that the Environment Court was correct in its interpretation of sections 104 and 127 of the RMA. The court found that the consent applications fell to be assessed under the Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement and the Bay of Plenty Regional Natural Resources Plan, as these were the relevant planning instruments in force at the time of the application. The court further held that the Environment Court had not erred in its interpretation of section 104(1)(b)(v) and (vi) of the RMA, and that the Council was entitled to grant the consent on the basis of the assessment under the applicable planning instruments. The court dismissed the appeal brought by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa, affirming the decision of the Environment Court that the consent application was properly assessed and granted under the correct planning instruments.

As a result of the court's decision, the consent granted by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to Creswell Springs Ltd for the expansion of the water bottling plant was upheld. The High Court's ruling confirmed the process by which resource consent applications are assessed under the RMA and the relevant regional planning instruments.