Landowners could be offered incentives to protect biodiversity under a Waimakariri District Council proposal. Photo: FileThe Waimakariri District Council is considering offering landowners incentives to help protect biodiversity as part of its District Plan review. “The council approved the development of a chapter in the upcoming draft District Plan to provide incentives for protecting areas of biodiversity by allowing subdivision and development incentives, as well as rights’. “This is being developed as a pathway to encourage and provide incentives for landowners to protect biodiverse areas.”A survey of landowners with listed significant natural areas found that most would respond well to incentives, but there were different views about what incentives would appeal. The survey findings found that “monitoring requirements associated with subdivision incentives did not put landowners off”, the report said.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 23, 2020 00:11 UTC