Hearings information

Proposed Waikato Regional Coastal Plan

The Proposed Waikato Regional Coastal Plan will soon be moving to the hearings stage, where submitters have the opportunity to speak to a hearings panel about their submission.

A hearing panel of independent commissioners and councillors has been established. The panel is: Greg Hill (chair), Hugh Leersnyder, Vicki Morrison-Shaw, and regional councillors Warren Maher and Stuart Kneebone. The independent commissioners have extensive experience in plan hearings with specialist expertise in coastal management, regional planning and tikanga Māori.

The latest information on the hearings, including Section 42A reports and associated documents can be found below.

On this page:

Direction from the Hearing Panel •
Hearings schedule •
Section 42A hearing reports •
Expert conferencing •
About the Hearing Panel •
Hearing panel members

Direction from the Hearing Panel

Hearings schedule

A hearing of submissions is scheduled to commence on Monday 17 February 2025 in Hamilton with hearings likely to run until mid/late April 2025.

Draft Hearing Schedule
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Section 42A hearing reports

This suite of reports is prepared under the provisions of Section 42A of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The reports summarise and evaluate submissions on the Proposed Waikato Regional Coastal Plan for the Hearing Panel and recommend possible amendments to the plan in response to those submissions.

The Proposed Waikato Regional Coastal Plan document has been updated to include the Section 42A reports recommended changes (strikethrough):

Expert conferencing

The Hearings Panel has directed that expert conferencing be conducted on selected topics. The Joint Witness Statements from each expert conferencing session can be found below.

About the Hearing Panel

The Hearings Panel is responsible for hearing and deliberating on submissions to the proposed coastal plan, and then making recommendations to the council.

Selection criteria for the panel included accreditation for decision making under the Resource Management Act and an understanding of the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement and Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act.

The independent commissioners appointed have a proven record of understanding complex resource management issues and a familiarity with coastal policy issues.

Hearing panel members

Greg Hill is an independent hearings commissioner and resource management planner/consultant. He has extensive experience chairing a wide range of plan making and resource consent hearings under the Resource Management Act. He was the General Manager Policy and Planning at the Auckland Regional Council (including the coastal function) and was the project manager and one of the principal authors of the first Auckland Coastal Plan. One of his most significant commissioner roles was with Waikato Regional Council’s Healthy Rivers/Wai Ora Plan Change 1.
Hugh Leersnyder is an independent hearings commissioner with extensive experience in applied environmental planning and resource management. He has technical expertise in biological and physical sciences as well as wide and varied experience in soil, water and coastal resource management. He held the position of Manager – Coastal Environment with Auckland Regional Council for 12 years, leading a team of coastal planners, scientists and other resource management professionals to manage the resources of the coastal environment in a balanced and integrated manner.
Of Ngāpuhi descent, Vicki Morrison-Shaw is an experienced Resource Management Act commissioner and senior environmental barrister who specialises in resource management and Māori law issues. She has broad experience across a range of different roles, including within law firms, a specialist iwi consultancy firm and for a local authority. She currently convenes the New Zealand Law Society Environmental Law Committee and is the interim convenor of Te Hunga Rōia Taiao Komiti.
Warren Maher is the Thames-Coromandel constituency member for the Waikato Regional Council. Warren is chair of the council’s Strategy and Policy Committee and Submissions Subcommittee and also sits on the risk and assurance, integrated catchment and CE employment and remuneration committees. He has lived and run an electrical contracting business in Tairua for 30 years. Warren has been President of the Tairua Pauanui Sports Fishing Club and Vice President of the NZ Sports Fishing Council. He is also the council representative on the Hauraki Gulf Forum.
Stuart Kneebone is a Waipā-King Country constituency member for the Waikato Regional Council and has been a councillor for the past 12 years. He is co-chair of the Waikato River Authority and Crown appointee as well as co-chair of the Te Nehenehenui Co-Governance Forum. Stu is also a local farmer involved in initiatives that contribute towards catchment health, water quality and biodiversity enhancement in the Waikato region. Over the years, he has spent a lot of time boating and diving in Mercury Bay.