Save the Basin Campaign hopes for a fair and thorough Board of Inquiry hearing

The Board of Inquiry hearing into the motorway flyover the New Zealand Transport Agency is proposing to build at the Basin Reserve cricket ground in central Wellington begins today, Monday 3 February, and is scheduled to last for two months.

Save the Basin Campaign spokesperson Tim Jones said "The Save the Basin Campaign will play a full part in the hearing. We have a very strong case that clearly shows why the proposed Basin Reserve flyover should not be approved by the Board. We're looking forward to presenting that case to the Board and to the public."

However, Tim Jones said that the Board of Inquiry process, run by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and set up by the current Government to push through resource consent applications for projects it favours within a nine-month time frame, has many flaws.

"That nine-month time frame has meant that submitters, expert witnesses, and the Board itself have been placed under extraordinary pressure by unrealistically short deadlines," Tim Jones commented. "At times, submitters have been given as little as one working day to respond to demands from the EPA for information. That's completely unacceptable."

"Now that the Board hearing is underway," Mr Jones said, "Save the Basin is looking forward to a hearing that will be fair, unbiased, thorough, and take all the time needed to hear and consider the many complex issues NZTA's deeply flawed proposal raises."

#ENDS

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