B-6 – Area 6 – Assessment of Environmental Effects 86 therefore avoid the activities within Area 6 contributing towards further allocation issues within the Ohinemuri River Catchment. 7.5 REGIONAL POLICY STATEMENTS 7.5.1 Waikato Regional Policy Statement The RPS provides an overview of the resource management issues for the Waikato Region, and sets out objectives, policies and methods intended to achieve the integrated management of natural and physical resources. The key topics in the RPS relevant to Area 6 include: air quality; freshwater bodies; indigenous biodiversity; riparian areas and wetlands; historic and cultural heritage; landscape, natural character and amenity; public access; natural hazards; and soils. These topics are discussed in the sub-sections that follow. OGNZL continues to work with tangata whenua regarding the effects of the project on cultural values. For this reason, provisions within the RPS regarding cultural values have been assessed at a high level within Section 9 of the Overarching AEE. This will be further developed as consultation progresses and cultural impact assessments have been completed. 7.5.1.1 Air Quality Objective 3.11 of the Regional Policy Statement relates to the management of air quality. It seeks that air quality be managed so that where existing air quality is better than national environmental standards for ambient air, any degradation is as low as reasonably achievable, so it avoids unacceptable risks to human health and ecosystems. It also seeks to avoid (where practicable) adverse effects on local amenity values. Policies 5.2 and 5.3 follow this approach and specify that:
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