Waikato District Council's new Livestock Bylaw cannot be implemented before July

Franklin farmers in the Waikato District should understand the new Stock Movement Bylaw, but there is no rush for affected farmers to try gain permits until at least 1 July, despite being urged to apply now by the council's general manager of roads and projects, Ian Gooden, in a recent press release.

"The Waikato District Council (WDC) cannot implement the Stock Movement Bylaw in the former Franklin area of the district before 1 July", says Wendy Clark, Federated Farmers Auckland provincial president.

"The bylaw comes into effect for Franklin on 1 July, which means the council can't issue any permits before that date. Any so-called permits they might issue would be invalid and not worth the paper they were written on.

"The bylaw applies as much to the council as it does to farmers and there are no transitional provisions to allow prior implementation, even in part.

"This lack is yet another example of how unreasonable the bylaw is. It will put those Franklin dairy farmers who need to move their cows across a road in an impossible position right at the start of their new milking season.

"At Federated Farmers' request, the Minister of Transport has agreed to consider using his powers to disallow the bylaw. He can do this if it is unreasonable or undesirable insofar as it relates to traffic, or is inconsistent with an enactment. We are currently working with the Ministry to identify the many ways we believe this bylaw breaches required standards.

"Hopefully, we will have an outcome by 1 July, but even if we don't, there are other avenues we can explore to prevent the bylaw coming into effect. Nevertheless, we encourage farmers to familiarize themselves with the requirements of the new bylaw.

"Federated Farmers urges WDC, itself, to put the situation to rights by revoking the new bylaw to the extent that it applies in the former Franklin area of the district before it comes into effect on 1 July. The current bylaw is perfectly satisfactory and has another three years to run before it needs to be reviewed", concluded Wendy Clark.