Court Rejects Development of ‘Waimauku Estate’

The Environment Court has ruled in favour of Rodney District Council’s decision to reject a private plan change request to permit a residential and business development at Waimauku.

A Private Plan Change request was lodged in December 2007 by Cornerstone Group. The land was subsequently sold to the Malory Corporation who wanted to progress the proposal.

Their proposal was to develop a residential and businesses area on rural northwest of Waimauku which would accommodate 1,375 properties and house 3,000 people. Waimauku currently has a population of 930.

The Council rejected the development proposal in September 2008. The Malory Group appealed this decision through the Environment Court.

After hearing evidence from the applicant and Rodney District Council, the Environment Court has this week released a decision ruling in favour of the Council’s decision to reject the Plan Change application and not permit the development of the ‘Waimauku Estate’.

Rodney District Council rejected the developer’s application on the grounds that the proposal was inconsistent with a Structure Plan it had recently adopted for Waimauku which limited growth in the area. Through the Structure Plan consultation Waimauku residents expressed a preference to limit growth and retain the town’s rural character. The Court noted that the consultation process used to develop the Structure Plan had been “broad, public and participatory.”

The Court found that the developer’s Plan Change request was not in accordance with sound resource management principles and that the Council was justified in rejecting the application on the grounds that it had already considered the development of this area as part of the Structure Plan process.

The Court’s decision noted that, on hearing of the developer’s proposal, the ‘Vision Waimauku’ group, which represents local residents, petitioned the Council not to permit the development. The Court reported that it was the view of the Chairperson of the Vision Waimauku Group that, “the general population of Waimauku support the approach of the Council and that it represents appropriate response to the issues of the area.”

ENDS

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