Wairau/ Awatere Resource Management Plan Processing applications will be delayed where the information supplied is insufficient to allow understanding of the nature of the activity or its effects. This delay will continue until sufficient information is received. Section 92 of the Act enables the Council to require further information before processing an application for a resource consent. Also, the Council may commission a report on any matters raised in relation to an application. These requirements can only be implemented where it is necessary to enable the Council to better understand the nature of an activity, its effects or ways the effects may be avoided, remedied, or mitigated. Use of these provisions relating to further information requirements ensures that the Council and the community have adequate information to allow understanding of the nature of proposed activities, their adverse effects, and ways the effects can be avoided, remedied or mitigated. 1.12 Monitoring and Review The process of monitoring and review are integral to the Council’s responsibilities under Sections 30, 31 and 35 of the Act. Monitoring is an important mechanism for assessing how this Plan and the Council are fulfilling the purpose of the Act promoting sustainable management of the natural and physical resources of the Wairau/ Awatere. Monitoring and Review is made up of information collection, recording, analysis and comparison. This process includes gathering information and maintaining records in respect of specific resources, the state of the environment, and the compliance of resource consents with their conditions. With the number and range of resource management issues, and objectives, policies, and methods relating to the sustainable management of resources that are contained within this Plan, the scope for monitoring is large. However, practical reality means that priorities need to be set for the monitoring program. Monitoring will be prioritised and targeted to: • Resource components of the Wairau/ Awatere environment, including freshwater, coastal and land ecosystems, and air; • Parameters of community wellbeing; and, • Deficiencies in existing monitoring programs. Throughout Volume One of the Plan, ‘anticipated environmental results’ are specified for groups of linked resource management issues. These results form the basis for the monitoring program. The monitoring and review program will be undertaken in a comprehensive strategy comprising the following three major components: • State of the Environment Monitoring which measures existing and cumulative effects, and establishes levels of environmental quality against which future changes can be measured; • Consent Compliance Monitoring which compares anticipated and actual effects of specifically approved activities; and, • Plan Achievement Monitoring which assesses the effectiveness of the objectives and policies within this Plan in achieving sustainable resource management. 1 - 10