Shurugwi Town Council (Environmental and Natural Resources Conservation) By-Laws, 2025

These by-laws set out the Shurugwi Town Council's environmental regime: a local environmental action plan and its amendment, grazing and cultivation areas, conservation of natural resources, waste management sites, environmental impact assessments, rehabilitation on abandonment of a project, environmental works by the council, burning of vegetation and fire prevention, invasive alien species, protection of wetlands, an environment committee and sub-committee, sleighs and farming implements, cutting of trees and forest produce, and further sections on extraction, brick making and water sources.

EIA compliance is enforced directly. The council monitors implementation of EIA reports jointly with the Environmental Management Agency, information submitted may not be used for personal benefit and must be handled in line with section 108 of the Environmental Management Act, and it is an offence for a project developer to start operations without lodging with the council a copy of the EIA report, the EIA certificate issued by EMA's Director-General, or the developer's annual environmental management plan — with a fine in the Third Schedule.

Anyone undertaking a project for commercial exploitation of natural resources, including mining and resource extraction that causes environmental damage, must lodge a rehabilitation plan with the council covering the works to be done before abandonment or closure, and must rehabilitate before closing; failing to do so attracts a fine in the Third Schedule.

Where an owner or occupier asks the council to carry out environmental works, or fails to do them, the council may do the work and recover its costs from the owner or occupier.

The extract available here was truncated part way through the fire prevention provisions and before the schedules, so the fee and penalty amounts should be read in the instrument itself.