Regional Air Quality Management Plan

Updated 3 August 2020 2:24pm

The Regional Air Quality Management Plan became operative on 8 May 2000. Change 1 to the Regional Air Quality Management Plan was made operative on1 September 2003.

The Plan applies to discharges to air in the whole of the Wellington region, except for the coastal marine area. Discharges to air in the coastal marine area are covered in the Regional Coastal Plan.

The Plan identifies issues to be addressed so that air can be sustainably managed. Objectives, policies, and methods (including rules) have been adopted to address these issues.

You can browse the rules by clicking on the highlighted regional rules link at the left of this screen.

The Ministry for the Environment adopted the National Environmental Standards for air in October 2004. National Environmental Standards override regional rules.

The Plan can be downloaded from the right of this screen.

What sort of activities does the Plan cover?

Discharges covered by the Plan include:

agrichemical spray and powder application
fumigation
on-farm and factory farming processes
processing of animal and plant matter
heating and electrical generation processes
processing, storage and transfer and flaring of hydrocarbons and biogas
fuel conversion processes
mineral extraction and the sorting and storage of powdered and bulk products
the drying and heating of minerals
metal production and processing
chemical processes
di-isocyanate and organic plasticiser processes
coating processes (including spray painting)
abrasive blasting processes
cooling towers/ventilation
burn-offs and burning
landfilling and composting
sewage and trade waste conveyance and treatment processes.

The Plan does not restrict discharges to air from vehicles.

You can find the rules or regulations that apply to activities in the user guide.

Plan effectiveness monitoring

The plan effectiveness report for the Regional Air Quality Management Plan describes the results of monitoring the effectiveness of the policies and methods, including rules, in the Plan. A full copy of the report can be downloaded from the sidebar on the right side of this page.

Regional plans and policy statement

Greater Wellington has produced five regional plans: Regional Coastal Plan, a Regional Freshwater Plan, a Regional Soil Plan, a Regional Air Quality Management Plan and a Regional Plan for Discharges to Land.

Regional Policy Statements must also be prepared for each region. They enable regional councils to provide broad direction and a framework for resource management within their regions. The Greater Wellington Regional Council released a second generation RPS in April 2013.