Wairau/ Awatere Resource Management Plan 25 August 2011 Other Structures and activities within, and occupation of the seabed, foreshore and land in the coastal environment may also be subject to a Department of Conservation Management Plan where such plan exists. 9.26 Issue Allocation of the right to apply for a coastal permit for marine farming in Aquaculture Management Areas (AMAs) in a manner that is effective, efficient and fair to all parties involved. As explained in Section 9.1.2 of the Plan, there are three different processes for Plan Changes to include new AMAs in the Plan. With a Council-initiated Plan Change, authorisations are allocated by public tender. Where an AMA has been created through the IPPC process, authorisations are allocated to the person or organisation that requested the Plan Change. These methods are considered to be effective, efficient and fair to the parties involved. Under the standard Private Plan Change process, any person or organisation can request a change to the Plan to establish an AMA in any part of the coastal marine area. These Private Plan Changes are processed in terms of Schedules 1, Part 2 and 1A of the Act. The time, resources and costs involved with evaluating new AMAs and providing for them in the Plan through a Plan Change process are considerable. With a standard Private Plan Change, these costs will be borne by the applicant. The Council recognises that people or organisations are not likely to make requests for new areas, unless they have some certainty that they will receive the right to apply for a coastal permit for marine farming should the Plan Change succeed. While the Act states as a default that authorisations should be allocated by public tender, the Council acknowledges that public tendering does not give the Plan Change applicant sufficient certainty that they will receive the right to apply for a coastal permit for marine farming within that new AMA. In order to enable effective, efficient and fair use of a standard Private Plan Change approach for the consideration of new AMAs, the Council considers that the Plan should specify an alternative method of allocating the right to apply for coastal permits for marine farming. The alternative allocation method adopted by the plan is considered to be fair and provide certainty to the Plan Change applicant. In addition, the public tendering process assumes multiple applications for authorisation of allocations. Public notification, calling for authorisation applicants, is the default process in the Act. In circumstances where there can only be one applicant (the Private Plan Change applicant), this process of public notification for authorisations is considered unnecessarily time-consuming and costly. The Plan, therefore, adopts an alternative method which provides the right to apply for coastal permits for marine farming directly to the operative Private Plan Change applicant. This method is considered to be more efficient and avoids unnecessary delays in the process. 9 - 20