News
Mayor says locals best
The Central Otago District Council will oppose any move to have the resource consent application for a controversial wind farm on the Lammermoor Range dealt with by the Government, saying its consents panel can do a better job.....Dr Macpherson’s comments came after the Upland Landscape Protection Society, a lobby group opposing the Meridian wind farm and the similar Trustpower installation on the nearby Lammerlaw Range, said the consent applications for the two projects should be dealt with by the Government rather than local bodies.
July 17, 2006
by Blair Mayston
in The Otago Daily Times
The Central Otago District Council will oppose any move to have the resource consent application for a controversial wind farm on the Lammermoor Range dealt with by the Government, saying its consents panel can do a better job. “It’s a highly skilled panel and between them they have scores of years of experience, they represent each of the wards in the community and they take good advice . . . That combination is hard to beat,” Mayor Malcolm Macpherson told the Otago Daily Times yesterday. “I don’t think you’d beat it with a retired Environment Court judge and a couple of commissioners, myself.” Dr Macpherson’s comments came after the Upland Landscape Protection Society, a lobby group opposing the Meridian wind farm and the similar Trustpower installation on the nearby Lammerlaw Range, said the consent applications for the two projects should be dealt with by the Government rather than local bodies.
Meridian plans a 176 turbine farm on the Lammermoor Range and Trustpower wants a development of 83 to 150 turbines.
The society has written to Minister for the Environment David Benson-Pope, Conservation Minister Chris Carter and Energy Minister David Parker asking that the projects be “called in”.
“These are projects of national significance, and no combination of councils will be capable of dealing with them adequately,” society spokesman Dr Richard Reeve said yesterday.
The projects needed to be looked at from a national perspective, not a local one, he said.
Dr Macpherson acknowledged the council was likely to be a “speed bump” on the way to the Environment Court, regardless of the decision its panel reached on Meridian’s application.
But if the council dealt with the consent, its consent panel and planners, who were familiar with the community, would have the opportunity to write conditions that would best limit adverse effects in case consent was granted.
Even if the application was declined and the case was appealed to the Environment Court, those conditions were likely to be respected by judges if they were “robust”, he said.
“Although it would take two bites to get to the end decision, going through the local panel then the Environment Court, it might not take much longer and I think the result would be likely to be superior.”
The Clutha District and Dunedin City councils will deal with the Trustpower consent.
Clutha Mayor Juno Hayes declined to comment about whether the consent should be called in, saying he could be on a panel deciding whether the project should be granted consent.
Mr Hayes said the issue of which council would handle the consent had yet to be established.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin said he needed to see more information before formulating a view on whether the consent should be handled by the Government. However, he said the wind farm consent would be tricky to deal with, especially given there was no national energy overview at this stage.
“One of the difficulties is that council are going to have to assess the overall national energy need and how that’s articulated, then they’ll have to balance that up against the local effects.”
Meridian plans a 176 turbine farm on the Lammermoor Range and Trustpower wants a development of 83 to 150 turbines.
The society has written to Minister for the Environment David Benson-Pope, Conservation Minister Chris Carter and Energy Minister David Parker asking that the projects be “called in”.
“These are projects of national significance, and no combination of councils will be capable of dealing with them adequately,” society spokesman Dr Richard Reeve said yesterday.
The projects needed to be looked at from a national perspective, not a local one, he said.
Dr Macpherson acknowledged the council was likely to be a “speed bump” on the way to the Environment Court, regardless of the decision its panel reached on Meridian’s application.
But if the council dealt with the consent, its consent panel and planners, who were familiar with the community, would have the opportunity to write conditions that would best limit adverse effects in case consent was granted.
Even if the application was declined and the case was appealed to the Environment Court, those conditions were likely to be respected by judges if they were “robust”, he said.
“Although it would take two bites to get to the end decision, going through the local panel then the Environment Court, it might not take much longer and I think the result would be likely to be superior.”
The Clutha District and Dunedin City councils will deal with the Trustpower consent.
Clutha Mayor Juno Hayes declined to comment about whether the consent should be called in, saying he could be on a panel deciding whether the project should be granted consent.
Mr Hayes said the issue of which council would handle the consent had yet to be established.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin said he needed to see more information before formulating a view on whether the consent should be handled by the Government. However, he said the wind farm consent would be tricky to deal with, especially given there was no national energy overview at this stage.
“One of the difficulties is that council are going to have to assess the overall national energy need and how that’s articulated, then they’ll have to balance that up against the local effects.”
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