Under existing legislation land use on Crown pastoral land is primarily restricted to pastoral farming and commercial recreation activities such as tourism and hunting.
The Government has proposed changes in response to feedback from Crown pastoral leaseholders. Leaseholders have expressed interest in undertaking additional activities to diversify their income streams and better meet the cost of managing pastoral leases and meeting their responsibilities as stewards of pastoral land.
Proposals in the Bill aim to remove barriers to new land uses, improve certainty for pastoral farmers, and reduce regulatory burden.
Secondary use permits to expand range of activities allowed on pastoral leases
- Under the existing law, land use on the Crown pastoral estate is primarily restricted to pastoral farming as well as a limited range of commercial recreation activities (including hunting and some tourism activities).
- The Bill introduces a new secondary use permit to allow other activities, such as horticulture, apiculture, small farm shops, and renewable energy projects. Pastoral farming would remain the primary use of the land.
- Only leaseholders would be able to apply for secondary use permits, keeping responsibility for what happens on the land clearly with the lessee.
- It is proposed that the application process for these permits would be similar to the current approach for discretionary pastoral activities and commercial recreation permits.
- All secondary use permit applications would be subject to section 5 of the Crown Pastoral Land Act where the Crown must recognise and provide for Māori interests. There would also be a statutory requirement to consult relevant iwi for any activities not in the schedule of specified activities outlined in the Bill.
Consents no longer required for low-risk, routine farming activities
These changes aim to reduce unnecessary regulation and make it easier for leaseholders to carry out the day-to-day work on a pastoral farm.
- The Bill makes changes to the list of activities allowed on pastoral land. This is to allow leaseholders to undertake more low-risk activities without requiring a consent. This includes:
- pest management
- routine maintenance, repair or replacement of existing buildings and infrastructure, like-for-like
- routine farming activities such as repeat cultivation, fertiliser and sowing seed on land where these activities already occur.
- Changes also standardise the wording used to describe activities to reduce confusion.
Pathway for removing land from the Crown pastoral estate
- In order to realise the full economic potential and best use of Crown pastoral land the Bill creates a new pathway for removing land from the Crown pastoral estate in exceptional cases.
- For example, activities such as infrastructure, business or residential development conflict with the Act’s purpose and outcomes and cannot be carried out while the land is pastoral land.
- This pathway would see all, or part, of the pastoral lease ended by agreement with the lessee and the land reclassified under the Land Act. The Crown would then have the option of selling or re-leasing the land (subject to Right of First Refusal entitlements) for another purpose.
- There is no provision for compulsory acquisition under proposals in the Bill.
- The Bill proposes a three-stage process:
- Stage one: after receiving an application, the Commissioner of Crown Land makes a recommendation to the Minister for Land Information on whether the application should proceed to stage two based on the likelihood of whether the application will meet the public interest test for reclassification and disposal. Consultation with relevant iwi and the Director-General of Conservation must be undertaken during stage one.
- Stage two: following a full assessment by the Commissioner of Crown Land, the Minister for Land Information decides whether to grant the application based on a public interest test: whether the public benefits of the proposed land use outweigh any negative impacts on inherent values and pastoral farming.
- Stage three: part or all of the specific pastoral lease is ended by agreement with the leaseholder. The land would then be reclassified under the Land Act, giving the Crown options to sell or lease the land for another purpose other than pastoral farming.
Updates to the rules to reduce regulatory and administrative burden
- The Crown Pastoral Land Act sets out a list of activities related to pastoral farming that are either permitted or prohibited or are discretionary pastoral activities that require consent from the Commissioner for Crown Lands.
- The Bill includes changes to improve the clarity and flexibility of the list. It also makes various improvements to the decision-making process for approving discretionary pastoral activities.
Land Act modernisation
The Land Act came into effect in 1948 and many of its systems and processes are now outdated.
Changes proposed in the Bill aim to improve administration, reduce delays, and make the system easier to navigate.
These changes include:
- clarifying that commercial filming and photography on Crown Land are permitted activities under a commercial recreation permit
- updating the tools available in the Act for dealing with trespassing on Crown land
- allowing digital advertising and providing for more flexible methods for the sale of Crown land
- clarifying the Commissioner of Crown Land’s statutory powers in relation to the status of Crown land, covenants, and rehearing timeframes.