Horizons Regional Council has agreed a temporary arrangement with farmers in the Ruapehu region on scrub-clearing rules.

The council's One Plan tightens rules around scrub removal, requiring farmers to have resource consent to spray or clear any area more than two hectares.

For the next six months farmers wanting to clear areas larger than that will be visited by a council rep to advise on the work.

Federated Farmers Ruapehu President Lyn Neeson says the agreement was first struck in August.

“Senior consent staff agreed that it was unreasonable to require a consent for anything over two hectares, when they were only talking about two hectares contiguous.

"We were really pleased we got that consensus, I think it’s the first time we’d ever come up with something that’s workable for both us and Horizons, even though it’s got a timeframe.

"It is reasonable, it’s written down, we’re not running around clearing everything, we understand each other pretty well."

Ms Neeson says farmers and the council need to work together to get a long-term agreement.

"We do have to work with Horizons, they are our council and we’ve got some way towards a solution.

"We can’t keep banging our head against this forever, but this doesn’t stop us from fighting it at a later date.”

The One Plan requires consent for clearances of more than two hectares of contiguous scrub only – a point that wasn’t qualified in the original plan.