Campground: Southerners set to be silenced – leaked proposal

The views of Happy Valley and Owhiro Bay residents will be ignored if Wellington City Council votes to support a proposal next week to build a campground in their neighbourhood, according to a leaked document.

A sub-committee set up to consider the proposal received 128 submissions last week, including 76 opposed to the development at Happy Valley Park.

“Local residents and organisations are strongly opposed to a second low-cost motorhome and camping park in the area,” says Councillor and south coast resident Paul Eagle.

But, a leaked document obtained by Cr Eagle shows these views will be ignored by the council’s Environment Committee Chair, Councillor Iona Pannett, who intends to present an amendment (as attached) that will see the campground idea proceed when it deliberates on the issue on Thursday 26 November. Mayor Celia Wade-Brown will second the amendment.

“While the sub-committee has voted to give council officers time to explore other options and undertake research over the summer, some City Councillors are making plans to subvert that process and get what they want by stealth” says Cr Eagle.

Cr Eagle says it’s clear he wasn’t meant to see the document, and is outraged by the audacity to ride roughshod over a community.

Environmental groups who look after the nearby stream and reserves together with the primary school, kindergarten and residents’ association raised major issues relating to health and safety, increased traffic and parking problems, damage to the stream and the unsuitably of the site for a camp ground.

“The leaked document attempts to mitigate the concerns of locals by suggesting a whole raft of measures to appease them like offering to review the operation after a year and protect the stream. It hides the reality that there will be a campground built and once it’s built , it’s a permanent fixture,” says Cr Eagle.

Cr Eagle says he’s become all too familiar with how the information from consultation and engagement exercises undertaken in south Wellington are dealt with.

“It’s dishonest and disingenuous to say we’re engaging with Wellingtonians to have input on something when what we’re actually doing is informing them of our decision and what we want is ideas on how we will mitigate such developments.”

“It appears it didn’t matter what local people and those from voluntary community organisations said, the reality is that some of my colleagues had fixed views from the start and were going to ram it through a campground anyway. It’s been a sham.”

There is also certainty about the costs, says Cr Eagle.

“The costs will balloon out to millions of dollars over 10 years – council officers have conceded that it would cost over $300,000 per annum for a full-time, onsite camp ground manager and that doesn’t include the $360,000 to set-up the camp ground or any maintenance and upgrades costs. This means it’s not economically viable and will bleed money.”

The recommendation on the table to do further work is the right thing to do says Cr Eagle.

“It’s unfortunate that Wellington as a city has limitations – we know land is a scarce. Therefore what we need is a regional camping ground strategy that will use existing infrastructure and services that could result in a number of small boutique sites across Wellington city. I’ve discussed this with the Mayor of Hutt City and met with the Mayor and Chief Executive of Porirua City and their combined feedback has been positive.”

Cr Eagle says the feedback from the submissions offered hope for the community as the development will need a resource consent which will give the community more opportunities to have their say.

“The people of Happy Valley and Owhiro Bay have fought the council on other matters before – and won. It still has to go through the resource consent process and that means there’ll be hearings pushing any decision out to October 2016, coincidentally the same month for next year’s local body elections. You can add another 6 to 9 months if someone chooses to go to the Environment Court.”

The Owhiro Bay Residents’ Association is running an online petition:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/wcc-no-camping-at-happy-valley-park.html

There will also be a stall at tomorrow’s (Saturday 21 November) Owhiro Bay School Fair to promote the petition and update residents on the proposal.

The Environment Committee meeting on Thursday 26 November begins at 9.15am and will take place in council’s Committee room 1.

ENDS

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