EDS says Mackenzie Country dairy consents unlawful

Friday, 15 January 2010, 4:58 pm
Press Release: Environmental Defence Society

15 January 2010
Media Release
Distribution: All media

EDS says Mackenzie Country dairy consents unlawful and calls on the Government to file High Court proceedings

The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) maintains that 3 sets of land use consents granted for massive intensive dairy conversions in the Mackenzie Country are invalid.

(Consents for take water consents and discharges of treated effluent are currently being processed but the land use consents have already been approved).

The consents relate to highly contentious proposals covering 8,555 hectares of the Mackenzie basin. They involve housing 17,850 dairy cows in large sheds around the clock from March to October and for 12 hours per day for the rest of the year. Up to 1.1 million litres of effluent could be discharged to pasture daily. The cows would be kept in stalls, fed in the sheds and milked robotically.

"We have looked carefully at the decisions by the Waitaki District Council to grant land use approvals late last year," said EDS Chairman Gary Taylor.

"They granted those consents on a non-notified basis - that is, with no public submission process.

"Our preliminary view is that the land use consents are unlawful for two principal reasons.

"First, they should have been publicly notified because the environmental effects of the proposals were more than minor. Those effects included landscape and ecological effects on the outstanding Mackenzie Country tussock lands.

"Secondly, the council wrongly concluded that the proposed farm buildings were permitted activities under its plan. They have misinterpreted their own plan.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

"These two errors render the consents invalid.

"It's important to understand the tactics that the applicants have adopted in these 3 matters. They have proceeded piecemeal, first getting land use consents, then seeking take water consents and most recently seeking discharge consents. The problem with that approach is that no one gets to look at the proposals in their entirety.

"Because the consents are not being heard together, the full implications of the proposals will never be considered in a holistic manner.

"We understand from media reports that the government is considering whether to call-in the discharge consent applications at the next Cabinet meeting on 18 January. Call-in was recommended by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and EDS would certainly support that approach given the national importance of the area and the issues.

"But government should go a step further and file judicial review proceedings in the High Court to test the validity of the land use consents. Such proceedings could be brought by any relevant Minister such as the Minister for the Environment.

"If successful in getting the consents overturned, as we think government would, then land use consents would have to be notified for public submission. The land and water consents could then all be called-in and heard together. That would be a big improvement on the current fragmented approach.

"It is very much in the public interest for these controversial applications to be subjected to the widest possible scrutiny. Bringing the land use and water consents together would achieve that," Gary Taylor concluded.

ENDS

Environmental Defence Society

EDS speaks for the environment. It has influence.

Since 1971, EDS has been driving environmental protection in Aotearoa New Zealand through law and policy change. That's why it's one of this country's most influential non- profit organisations when it comes to achieving better environmental outcomes.

EDS has expertise in key disciplines including law, planning, landscape and science. It operates as a policy think-tank, a litigation advocate, and a collaborator – bringing together the private and public sectors for constructive engagement.

EDS runs conferences and seminars on topical issues, including an annual Environmental Summit and the Climate Change and Business Conference.

EDS is a registered charity and donations to it are tax-deductible.