Further delay in new West Coast ‘one plan’

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By Brendon McMahon
, Local democracy reporter

The submission period for the Te Tai o Poutini Plan (TTPP) has been extended by a further fortnight after another glitch in sending letters to landowners.

TTPP chairman Rex Williams said a delay in sending out the correct legal advice to affected landowners meant the submissions period would be extended again.

Some landowners were wrongly informed from July that their land contained sites and areas of significance to Māori, when the proposed plan was publicly notified.

Submissions were originally until the end of September.

The TTPP committee subsequently agreed to extend submissions until October 28 after the issue of the incorrect letter first arose.

Williams said a further two weeks for submissions, until November 11, recognised a further delay in the "follow-up correspondence" to landowners.

The TTPP had also received feedback from the public at last weekend's AgFest highlighting the need for more time.

"Extending the submission period by an extra fortnight gives additional time for our communities, businesses and other stakeholders to get involved and provide their feedback.

"This is a plan for West Coasters and it just makes sense to do this," Williams said.

The extra time would be formally ratified once the new TTPP Committee was appointed in the next few weeks.

Williams said a delay in new letters of advice being sent out had emerged.

This was due to resourcing, and the complex task of ensuring multiple immediate legal effect categories were accounted for.

"There were seven different letters, and some properties had more than one letter associated with them.

"It's not as though the regional council has excess staff. It was a matter of dealing with a few hundred letters, each of which had to be checked carefully. It just took a bit longer than we thought."

Wrong legal notification letters from the TTPP to some landowners, from late July, were originally traced to "a software glitch" in the mapping system used by the West Coast Regional Council for the TTPP, Williams said.

This in turn generated incorrect legal notification letters to some landowners.

West Coast Regional Council chief executive Heather Mabin said the latest glitch had been "logistical".

It was no reflection on Ngāi Tahu, which had helped the TTPP ensure everything was correct before new letters were sent out, Mabin said.

Meanwhile, Williams encouraged West Coasters to get in touch about the proposed plan and how to make a submission.

"It's not always easy understanding how the proposed plan may affect you. We are here to answer your questions.

"We need your feedback to make the TTPP be able to work for you."

The proposed plan can be viewed at www.ttpp.nz...