August 19th March Against Mining Decision

The Recent Environment court decision to allow mining on The Coromandel Peninsula has dire implications for the entire country.

The decision states that Prohibited Activity Status, which usually allows a council to exclude unwanted activities from areas within a District, can no longer be used this way.

"The Court Decision means that even if The Coromandel decides that mining or any other heavy industry is unwanted, there will be no opportunity to prohibit the activity in the District Scheme", says Mark Tugendhaft, Spokesperson for Watchdog.

The Thames District Council has a last chance to join Watchdog in an appeal against the decision and to win back a bit of planning protection for our Peninsula. The TCDC will be holding a full council meeting on in the TCDC Council office at the same time. They have barred the public from attending this meeting.

The original decision not to defend the prohibition on mining was made just days before the Environment Court hearing by a small planning committee. It never went to the full council for a vote.

Residents are meeting at the War Memorial Hall, to march and rally in front of the Council in Thames at 1am Thursday, August 19th. The message is "No Mining On The Coromandel!"

"Communities can no longer develop with any certainty. If a community like the Coromandel wishes to prohibit a polluting industry like heavy metal mining, it should be able to. This is why the RMA included ‘Prohibited Activity Status’", says Coromandel Watchdog.

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