Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnonThe High Court has ruled Canterbury's regional council erred when it allowed farms to discharge nitrates and other pollution without resource consents, but stopped short of ordering it to change the rule. The rule - rule 5.63 (Incidental Nutrient Discharges) - had "cemented the conditions for ongoing intensive farming even as nitrate pollution was already mounting", Hall said. The organisation sought the removal of the rule, as well as other declarations about the law, but the court declined. Llast year, the High Court ruled the council unlawfully granted a discharge consent to the Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Ltd (ALIL) irrigation scheme, quashing the consent. RNZ has approached the regional council for comment.

Source: New Zealand Herald December 24, 2025 11:41 UTC