Illegal resolution passed by Horizons to "prevent blood on the streets" says councillor

Veronica from Levin

Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council has been asked to confirm how many resource consents have been issued illegally in Horowhenua including to Horowhenua District Council.

The request was made by Lake Horowhenua owner and representative of the Tamarangi hapu of MuaUpoko Vivienne Taueki in response to a 21 March 2017 Environment Court decision against the regional council.

The Environment Court case won by Fish and Game Council and the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) determined the Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council [MWRC] was not giving legal effect to its own One Plan rules on intensive farming activities, the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and the Resource Management Act (RMA).

Ms Taueki, who was awarded a Horowhenua District Council mayoral civic award in November 2018 for her work maintaining ancestral lands and waterways, has also asked for a meeting with MWRC staff and councillors to discuss the adverse effects on "Muaupoko taonga such as Lake Horowhenua and the Hokio stream."

Muaupoko hold mana whenua over Lake Horowhenua and the Hokio Stream.

She wants confirmation about what resource consents have been granted to Horowhenua District Council [HDC] by MWRC using a resolution ruled by the Environment Court as, "unlawful, invalid and in contravention of the RMA."

She asked specifically for confirmation about resource consents granted to HDC for the Levin Waste Water Treatment Plant (LWWTP), Levin Landfill and the construction of a silt trap - a Lake Accord project.

The illegal resolution passed by MWRC on 25 June 2013 was rescinded almost four years later on 28 February 2017 but Environment Minister David Parker has become involved because MWRC is still not applying its own One Plan rules on discharges to land meaning hundreds of resource consents granted by MWRC are still illegal.

In a response to Ms Taueki from regional councillor John Barrow he described the appeals taken by Fish and Game Council and the EDS to the Environment Court as, "arguably destructive."

Cr Barrow said Horizons passed the "technically" illegal resolution to, "in effect, prevent the literal blood on the street that would have eventuated if council tried to force farmers into receivership."

He urged Ms Taueki and her brother Philip Taueki, also a Lake Horowhenua kaitiaki and owner, "to carefully consider your options."

A full transcript of Cr Barrows response to Ms Taueki is available as an attached document

Email March 8, 2019 from MWRC councillor John Barrow.docx Download View