Marlborough Sounds Resource Management Plan 20 August 2015 Information The Council will provide information on facilities available for the collection and disposal of waste from boats. Education The Council will provide information and education on the best environmental practices with respect to boat maintenance. National/Other The Council will implement the Marine Pollution Regulations 1998 in relation to discharges from ships and offshore installations. Recognised under Policy 7.1.20(c) of the Marlborough Regional Policy Statement, is the need to “...enable the safe and efficient use of marinas...”. The Plan achieves this by zoning areas for marina activity at certain locations including for further marina development. Both the land and water areas of the existing marinas at Picton, Waikawa and Havelock are included in a Marina Zone. ‘Coastal Marine Area’ is included in this zone. Provision is made for the activities usually associated with marinas, boat storage and servicing, and boat launching. The floating marina at Portage is of a much smaller scale than the other three marinas and has no comparable facilities. It is considered unnecessary to include the Portage marina in the Marina Zone. It will be managed using the resource consent provisions of the Act. The Marina Zone incorporates land or structures, including those developed within the coastal marine area. It is of limited size. Given the limited size it is important that the land and water surface be dedicated to activities which rely on a marina location. These activities are therefore permitted activities. It would be an unsustainable use of the land and water space within the marinas to allow activities to locate there which do not rely on such a location to operate. Such activities will therefore be considered as discretionary or non-complying activities. The Plan does not identify any specific sites for further marina zones. The scale and complexity of the Marlborough Sounds together with the changing demands and design of marinas makes it impracticable to determine, in advance, appropriate locations for future marinas. Any such proposals will be considered either as applications for resource consent or as plan changes and will be assessed in terms of the relevant objectives, policies and standards of the Plan and the requirements of the Act. The Plan is able to integrate the land and sea interface within marinas. The Marina Zone will encompass activities within the coastal marine area and on adjoining land. Marinas are important ‘front doors’ to the Sounds and it is important that their development is compatible with the overall townscape of the surrounding urban area and with the character of the coastal margin. Performance standards are included to address this relationship. The Council as provider of reticulated sewage disposal facilities in the Plan area will seek to achieve a co-ordinated approach to the disposal of sewage waste from marina operations. The Council will liaise with marina operators, particularly in relation to developing and providing disposal facilities. Information and education will complement this to improve environmental practice in relation to waste disposal and boat maintenance. 10 - 36