Consent for water take in Refreshment Place
I have been working with Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Paul Swain to learn more about what is happening with the resource consent in Refreshment Place and as a result I am backing his call for a review of the consent that was granted to the water bottling business there.
Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) administers resource consents for extracting water from the aquifer in the region and from those that have engaged with me so far, our community clearly has no appetite for consents being granted where copious amounts of water are extracted for export.
Apart from the serious environmental concerns, its just not right that there is a consent to extract nearly 180,000,000 litres a year from the aquifer and pay as little as a $349 annual consent fee.
Today, I have found out that the consent was granted in 2013 and after consulting iwi, one of whom said that they wanted the process to be publicly notified, GWRC felt differently. There seems to be anomalies regarding environmental effects in other parts of the decision that I am yet to get my head around so when I have answers I will update this post.
I believe GWRC should review all of the resource consents granted to extract water from Upper Hutt’s groundwater. This review should check whether allocation is too much, given the impact on water quality, recreation values, environmental impacts and any economic benefits to Upper Hutt.
Unfortunately we are hamstrung as a community because there is no avenue for us to manage the consent or charge, for example, a royalty per litre extracted and exported. Christchurch City Council are seeking support from the Government which, I believe, is necessary.
It’s time for a change and I am looking forward to a review, support from the Government and more protections for our water and communities.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please do comment below or contact me.
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Advice please, declined house insurance cover
Looking for advice please. Has anyone had any issues reinsuring their homes. Our current house insurance went up by 11.5%, so I decided to get another quote. At the end of a very long phone with Tower, they declined to insurance us, saying our property is a landslide risk. I'm on Wyndham Road in Pinehaven. While the house is up off the street, the house itself and backyard are on the flat part of our section. Now - in the interest of full disclosure - I'm going to have to tell our current insurer too. I've rung the Council to see if they've updated their hazards mapping - and they said the only update has been to the Pinehaven Overflow. Have lived in this house since 2003, and insurance has never been an issue till now. TIA
Poll: Would you participate in local initiatives aimed at stopping plastic from reaching our oceans?
Volunteers will be scouring the foreshore, riverbanks, and islands for rubbish on Saturday the 13th as part of the Clean Up the Hutt event.
This initiative helps stop plastic from reaching our oceans and makes our waterways cleaner and safer for everyone.
We want to know: Should this be rolled out across all coastal cities in Aotearoa? And more importantly… would you get involved? 💚
Want the details? The Post has you covered.
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68.8% Yes!
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15.1% Maybe ...
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16.1% No.
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