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Meaning of best practicable option

Best practicable option means ‘the best method for preventing or minimising the adverse effects on the environment having regard, among other things, to -

• The nature of the discharge or emission and the sensitivity of the receiving environmentto adverse effects; and
• The financial implications, and the effects on the environment, of that option when compared with other options; and
• The current state of technical knowledge and the likelihood that the option can be successfully applied’.

Case Law:

Auckland Kart Club Inc v Auckland C C A124/92 1 & 2 NZPTD 337. The weighting given to each provision depends on the particular case. The conjunctive use of ‘and’ at the end of each provision means that an evaluation of the best method should take account of all factors mentioned in the provisions. However, one or two of the provisions may, at any one time, be exclusive of others. The best practicable option is the optimum combination of all methods to limit noise to the greatest extent achievable.

What constitutes an ‘unreasonable’ noise is not defined by the RMA. What is ‘reasonable’ or ‘unreasonable’ is a question of fact and. District plan noise limits may represent the best available guide to what is reasonable, although ambient conditions can be highly variable.

Ngataringa Bay 2000 Inc v The Attorney General & North Shore City Council (A010/94) which ‘… even sophisticated district noise control rules cannot fully be responsive to local circumstances to ensure noise emissions do not exceed reasonable levels’. In this case the subject noise was held to be unreasonable (RMA s 16) even though it complied with the district plan rule.