Wairau/ Awatere Resource Management Plan At the central government level, the Minister for the Environment is responsible for preparing National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards. Both are optional and as yet none has been prepared. National Policy Statements will guide local government decision making while National Environmental Standards, would through regulations, cover matters requiring a nation-wide approach such as pollution, ballast water, agricultural spray drift or air quality for example. The New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement is mandatory and was prepared by the Minister of Conservation. This document sets up the framework for managing New Zealand’s coastal environment within which local government prepares regional coastal plans. The Marlborough Regional Policy Statement, which is mandatory, provides an overview of the significant resource management issues of the region and contains the objectives, policies and methods to achieve integrated management of the natural and physical resources of the whole region. 1.7.2 Relationship with Other Legislation In preparing or changing regional, coastal and district plans, Sections 66(2) and 74(2) of the Act require that the Council must have regard to the following: • Management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts, in particular Conservation Management Strategies (Conservation Act 1987), Reserve Management Plans (Reserves Act 1977), Land Transport Strategies (Transit New Zealand Act 1989) and Pest Management Strategies (Biosecurity Act 1993); • Relevant planning documents recognised by an iwi authority affected by this Resource Management Plan; • Regulations relating to the conservation or management of taiapure fisheries; • The Crown’s interests in land of the Crown in the coastal marine area; • Relevant entries in the Historic Places Register; • Regulations made under the Act to the extent that their content has a bearing on resource management issues of the region; and • The extent to which this Wairau/ Awatere Resource Management Plan needs to be consistent with policy statements and plans of adjacent regional councils and territorial authorities. 1.7.3 Coastal Environment As explained in 1.7.1 the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement sets out the framework for managing New Zealand’s coastal environment. The term ‘coastal environment’ is not defined in the Act but does have meaning in case law established in previous planning legislation. For the purposes of this Plan the coastal environment incorporates the environment in which the coast is usually a significant part or element. The coastal environment will vary from place to place, depending upon the extent to which it affects or is (directly) affected by coastal processes and the management issue concerned. It includes three distinct, but interrelated parts: • The coastal marine area; • The active coastal zone; and 1 - 4