Appeal lodged for Williamson Park Resource Consent

In November 2018 the decision by an independent RMA Commissioner to approve a resource consent to hold events at Williamson Park in Whangamata was released.

An appeal to the decision was lodged late December to the Environment Court by Mr Manolo Echave. Some of the main points of the applicant's appeal is they believe the decision does not give regard to maintaining a safe event on New Year's Eve, nor give sufficient consideration to the economic value of previous events that have been run over the summer peak period previously at Williamson Park. The applicant is referring to two one-off resource consent applications that were granted. One consent was for two ticketed events over the 2016/17 peak summer holiday period (not New Years Eve related) and the other consent for three ticketed events 2017/18 (New Year's Eve inclusive). You can read the full appeal here (ENV-2018-AKL-000378).

As the appeal is before the court our Council won't be making any comment.

Please direct any correspondence or enquiries to the Environment Court Case Manager on 09 916 9091 or visit the website here for other contact options.

As we receive further information from the Environment Court we will provide this on our website.

Background to the resource consent

Our Council applied for resource consent because Williamson Park is a council-owned reserve and the rules relating to festivals and events in our Proposed District Plan have recently been amended, which means a resource consent is now required for any event where 500 or more people gather.

Council made an application for a comprehensive consent for 20 daytime and 7 night events per year, for 15 years.

There were 191 submissions received and a hearing was held 24 and 25 October. You can view the documentation presented at the hearing here.

The decision from the Independent RMA Commissioner, Paul Cooney, can be read here (RMA2018/203).

Events at Williamson Park

While there were no commercial ticketed evening events at Williamson Park this year, other events are being held and families have been enjoying the new sheltered BBQ areas and fun family events such as night and day markets, yoga, Miss Whangamata, Whanga Week and the family fun water slide.

For more information on upcoming events subscribe to our e-newsletter or follow us on Facebook.

© Scoop Media