Government abusing emergency powers to push through plans

green-party

Tue Apr 14 2015 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Government abusing emergency powers to push through plans

Tuesday, 14 April 2015, 3:33 pm
Press Release: Green Party

Government abusing emergency powers to push through Lyttelton port expansion plans

The Government is misusing Christchurch’s emergency legislation to push through port expansion plans with potentially significant effects on Lyttelton Harbour, the Green Party said today.

Environment Canterbury’s Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan for a rebuilt port proposes a massive 27ha reclamation of land to extend the container port that will potentially affect tidal flows and sedimentation in the harbour.

“The plan has been prepared using the emergency powers designed to get Christchurch back up and running after the earthquakes, and is a misuse of power by the Government. There is no chance for the public to stop or scale back the reclamation,” said Green Party Christchurch spokesperson Eugenie Sage.

“This plan, to reclaim 27ha and make substantial changes to the shape of the harbour, will require a large amount of rock to be blasted from nearby cliffs. This will have significant impacts on the landscape and biodiversity values, and create noise issues for the people living in and using the harbour basin.

“The community can’t stop or reduce the size of the reclamation because the Government’s appointed ECan commissioners have made it a controlled activity, which the Council must agree to.

“The public only gets a month to make submissions, and will have to wade through volumes of technical reports that took the Council and the port company more than six months to prepare.

“The plan process under the emergency powers means Minister Brownlee signs it off. There is no opportunity for the public to challenge the plan in the Environment Court as there is under the usual Resource Management Act (RMA) plan process.

“Emergency powers should end and the normal planning rules apply instead. Otherwise we risk a major and potentially high impact port expansion with little chance for the public to influence what happens to their harbour,” said Ms Sage.

ENDS

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