Important information for concessionaires and permit holders No images? Click here Our relationship with you and the business you operate on public conservation land is important to us. This newsletter is designed to help you run your business and contains practical information relevant to your permit or concession. It was sent out when New Zealand was about to go in COVID-19 Alert Level 2. Kia ora, Greetings from my home office to yours as we are about to head into Alert Level 2. I, like the rest of New Zealand, am really looking forward reconnecting with family and friends and being able to travel domestically to support our country’s tourism operators. We know this has been a difficult time for many of you whose businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Hopefully those who need it have already applied for the financial support package for NZ businesses. We’re also committed to doing all we can to help you so please talk to your local DOC contact or email permissions@doc.govt.nz if you have any questions or concerns. We’ve been sending regular updates to concessionaires and permit holders. Let us know if you are not receiving these and would like to be added to the distribution list. Ngā mihi Operating under COVID-19 Level 2At Alert Level 2, all recreation-based concessionaires and permit holders are able to resume their operations providing their business activity is consistent with the Ministry of Health Public Health Measures. You must have a COVID-19 safety plan in place – templates are available on the WorkSafe website. Concessionaires and permit holders are expected to brief their customers about COVID-19 safety before undertaking their activity on conservation land and waters. Safety briefings should include social distancing and hygiene when using public facilities such as a DOC hut. All DOC facilities will be re-opened at Alert Level 2, including tracks, toilets and accommodation (huts, campsites and lodges) and DOC Visitor Centres. Overnight trips into the backcountry are able to be made. But it’s not business as usual. To maintain the government’s guidelines for gatherings, bookable accommodation is capped to 10 people and there should be no more than 10 people at any of the non-bookable huts. At all huts appropriate physical distancing is required – people should bring a tent to be certain. Visitors will also need to take responsibility for their health and hygiene, such as bringing and using their own cleaning equipment. Update on payment due datesIn April we extended the deadline for the payment of March invoices to May, we have now extended the deadline for the payment of April invoices to June. This means an invoice payable on 20 May is now payable by 20 June. We will continue to invoice you, as this enables both your business and DOC to maintain accurate financial records. Current public sector legislation and instructions mean we must continue to issue invoices. If you are unable to pay your invoice by the due date, please contact our Accounts Team on ar@doc.govt.nz Activity returns – keep them comingAll activity returns must be provided to us as per normal, even if your activity is minimal or nil. We really appreciate your continued efforts to complete these returns. Our staff will be following up with those who have not submitted returns to ensure we have the right information and we can invoice accurately. Teams Meetings – for reliable meetingsHaving a secure and reliable communications platform to engage with concessionaires and other permit holders is important. That’s why DOC has introduced Teams Meetings – an all-encompassing collaboration tool and communications platform. How this affects you:
And if you’re sending us an invite to a meeting, don’t worry, we can still connect whatever video/audio conference platform you choose to use. Fee waivers or adjustmentsWe have received a large number of requests for fee waivers or adjustments from those heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are assessing the individual circumstances of each request and will be responding to these on a case-by-case basis. We are considering cases of genuine hardship as quickly as we can, but it may take some time to assess and respond to these requests. If this applies to you we appreciate your ongoing patience. Reviews, disputes and evaluationsAs with invoicing, fee reviews, rental reviews and disputes were initially placed on hold while we assessed the impact of COVID-19. These are now recommencing. Rest assured we will be assessing any new market conditions and taking them into account. We will also be conducting a few out of cycle reviews for any concessionaires who may be being charged a fee that is significantly at odds with the market rate. Valuations already underway are currently being assessed and will either be completed or discontinued because we have decided to set your fee in a different way. Valuation will be a strong and independent tool in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on businesses. Processing delaysPreviously we have advised that unprecedented numbers of concession and permit applications meant they were taking longer than usual to process. Unfortunately, this is still the case as we respond to COVID-19 and adjust to working from home. Currently our Permissions Advisors are calling all eligible applicants to see if they would like to withdraw their application, put it on hold or continue. Processing fees are waived for applications that are withdrawn as a result of COVID-19 stopping planned business activities. The backlog of applications is decreasing daily, and we are prioritising applications that will be important for national recovery as we hopefully continue to progress down the COVID-19 alert levels. Any applicant that has not yet been contacted should email their assigned advisor or permissions@doc.govt.nz Research with a differenceWe receive many interesting applications to conduct research on conservation land. Recently the Auckland Council applied to monitor Kōura (crayfish) at Lake Rototoa using a traditional Maori harvesting technique. The water quality of the lake has been in decline over the last few years with pest fish thought to be a factor. The Tau Kōura methodology uses whakaweku (‘fern bundles’ made from bracken fronds) attached to a line along the lakebed. Local iwi Ngati Whatua o Kaipara were consulted before the application was submitted and asked to be involved in monitoring the Kōura. Council staff and iwi members set six whakaweku in February, but COVID-19 restrictions meant they could not retrieve them in April as planned, so they still eagerly awaiting the results of the trial! If you’re considering undertaking any research use our decision making tool to find out what authorisation you need, and make sure you contact the local iwi to assess whether your proposed activity will have any cultural effects. Setting the whakaweku on Lake Rototoa Update on ‘percentage of revenue’ fees reviewLast edition we mentioned that we were reviewing our fee structure for activity fees that are determined by a percentage of the revenue earned through a concession. We will still be undertaking this review but due to the impact of COVID-19 we are revising our timeline. We will still be seeking feedback from concessionaires who have their fee calculated this way further down the track. Any new fee setting structure will not be in place before the 2021/22 financial year and not take effect until the following rental review date or when your concession comes up for reissue. DOC and ‘working from home’Some of our priority field work restarted under COVID-19 Alert Level 3. The rest can continue when the country enters Level 2 meaning our Rangers will be back out in the field. Broadly speaking, other staff will be able to return to offices, where they can do so safely. This includes our Permissions Advisors and other staff who help process and manage concessions and permits. Like everyone, working from home has had its challenges, but it’s not all bad as you can see from some of our staff home set-ups. Regardless of where we’re working you can still get a hold of us via email or phone. If you don’t already have a local DOC contact for your concession and/or application you can also contact permissions@doc.govt.nz DOC staff and their furry work colleagues adjust to working from home Regional news roundupCheck out some of our news over the past few months: • Urgent work to repair whangamarino weir (Waikato) Is there something you would like to see in this newsletter? Email us at businessonthegreen@doc.govt.nz |