Land, the deputy mayor and Council

Veronica from Levin

Horowhenua District Council failed to notify property valuations company Quotable Value of the correct physical address for 2.7 hectares of land in Levin purchased by deputy mayor Wayne Bishop's land and property development company.

When asked why the Council stated the 2.7 hectares purchased by Wayne Bishop Investments Ltd was in "5 Bush Street", Levin when the QV database listed the 2.7 hectares as "Cambridge Street" Council's group manager corporate services Mark Lester said, "when the error was later picked up in our system and correctly numbered as 5 Bush Street Levin, it looks as though QV had not been notified of the situation to reflect this."

Mr Lester explained the error had occurred after a sub division in 1985 when the 2.7 hectare lot was created, "there was no number allocation just the street reference attached" to the parent lot of the 2.7 hectares situated at 56-62 Cambridge Street.

Wayne Bishop Investment Ltd purchased the 2.7 hectare block on 2 November, 2018 the same day he also purchased its parent lot situated at 56-62 Cambridge Street South which has a rateable value of $480,000.

QV updated its own records after receiving the correct information.

Local authorities are required to keep and maintain a rating information database. To keep this information up to date, valuations must be reviewed at least once every three years.

The 2.7 hectares was sub-divided by the previous owners, formerly known as Colyer Mair Assets Ltd before a change name to Lowe Corporation Pacific Ltd, and has a rateable value of $360,000.

The 2.7 hecatre lot purchased by Mr Bishop's company is beside land earmarked for transfer to the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust. All six trustees are self-appointed former Economic Development Board (EDB) members. Cr Bishop was deputy chair of the EDB.

Mr Lester said as at 20 December 2018, “no land has been transferred or sold to the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust.”