Council Agenda 8 February 2007
8. SUBMISSION: CENTRAL PLAINS WATER
TRUST (CPWT) APPLICATIONS TO
SELWYN DISTRICT COUNCIL
General Manager responsible: General Manager Strategy and
Planning, DDI 941-8177
Officer responsible: Programme Manager
Author: John McEwing
PURPOSE OF REPORT
1. The purpose of this report is to:
- Inform the Council of the
submission made in relation to the CPWT Notice of Requirement
and a range of land use consent
applications submitted to the Selwyn District Council.
- Request the Council to either
endorse or withdraw the submission.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2. CPWT has submitted to the Selwyn
District Council (SDC) a Notice of Requirement for the
designation of land for the Central Plains
Water Enhancement Scheme for dam and canal
construction and resource consent applications
for the water construction, use and maintenance
of the associated water distribution
network.
3. A review of the CPWT applications
and supporting reports by Pattle Delamore Partners (PDP)
has raised concerns associated with
increased groundwater levels potentially impacting on land
use activities and potential
contamination of groundwater.
4. Submissions closed on 29 January
2007. However this did not align with a Council meeting
date to permit Council consideration of
a submission. There was little likelihood of an extension
of the submission date being granted.
Therefore, a meeting was held on 24 January 2007 with
the Central Plains Working Party,
comprising Councillors Sally Buck, Helen Broughton and
Norm Withers, and staff comprising
Mike Theelen, General Manager Strategy and Planning,
John McEwing and
consultant, Peter Callander (PDP).
5. The Working Party agreed the
draft submitted conditions to accompany a submission with an
additional general remediation condition in
the event of adverse effects arising as a
consequence of the scheme causing high
groundwater levels. The other submitted conditions
relate to water race management,
additional conditions to the proposed Remediation Action
Plan and a general
review condition.
6. A submission has been lodged with
the SDC to meet the submission closing date and has been
aligned to the outcomes sought in the
previous submission which the Council submitted to
Environment
FINANCIAL AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
7. Financial - The submission is to
help protect the Council’s position in terms of:
(a) Protection of resources and
infrastructure, associated with potential increased
groundwater levels and contaminant levels
adversely impacting on key services, such as
drinking water supply, infrastructure, land
use activities and property.
(b) A worst case scenario of the
Christchurch City Council potentially being an
“environmental
underwriter” after the life of the scheme.
7. Direct costs relate to the cost
of review and future hearings attendance.
8. Legal – The draft submission has
been reviewed by Aidan Prebble on behalf of the Legal
Services Unit.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council
receive this report and endorse the submission to SDC as set out
in the attachment.
Council Agenda 8 February 2007
BACKGROUND ON SUBMISSION: CENTRAL PLAINS WATER TRUST (CPWT) APPLICATIONS TO
SELWYN DISTRICT COUNCIL
9. CPWT has submitted to the Selwyn
District Council:
(a) A Notice of Requirement for the
designation of land for the Central Plains Water
Enhancement Scheme
for dam and canal construction.
(b) Resource consent applications
for the construction, use and maintenance of pipelines,
open channels or waterways to convey
water in each of the six geographical areas
across the Central Plains area, being
Windwhistle, Te Pirita,
Darfield and
Central.
10. A review of the CPWT applications
and supporting reports by Pattle Delamore Partners (PDP)
has raised concerns associated with:
- water
losses from the water distribution network raising groundwater levels with a
consequent potential impact on land use
activities, such as quarry pit operations.
- potential
contamination of groundwater as a result of construction and other activities
within
the Central Plains scheme area.
11. Submissions closed on 29 January
2007. As this did not align with a Council meeting date to
permit Council consideration of a
submission a formal request was made, under section 37 of
the RMA, to the Selwyn District Council
(SDC) for an extension of the submission date. The
SDC response was to confirm that an
extension to the submission date was previously done
and SDC “… cannot lawfully grant a
further extension at this time.” The response also set out a
process where, in terms of the RMA, the
agreement of the applicant would be required and, on
the basis of an
apply to all applicants and that Central
Plains Water would need to consent to an extension of
time for all submitters and to quote, “In
the light of the applicant’s opposition to the initial
extension it may be that such consent will
not be forthcoming.”
12. With the likelihood of an
extension not being granted a meeting was held on 24 January 2007
with the Central Plains Working Party,
comprising Councillors Sally Buck, Helen Broughton and
Norm Withers, and staff comprising
Michael Theelen, General Manager Strategy and Planning,
John McEwing and
consultant, Peter Callander (PDP).
13. The Working Party agreed a set
of draft conditions to accompany a submission to SDC with an
additional general remediation condition in
the event of adverse effects arising as a
consequence of the scheme.
14. The submission has been lodged
with the SDC to meet the submission closing date of
29 January 2007 and is consistent
with, and aligned to, the outcomes sought in the previous
submission which the Council submitted to
Environment Canterbury on 17 August 2006.