A panel of Independent Commissioners is recommending national rail operator KiwiRail be allowed to formally designate the corridor of land it would use for a proposed multimillion dollar rail link from Oakleigh to Marsden Pt.

Although KiwiRail has yet to make a decision on when the proposed 20km long link might be built, the State-Owned-Enterprise has been seeking a legal ‘notice of requirement’ for the proposed corridor. (This effectively protects the route from other future development or uses that would be incompatible with a railway line.)

KiwiRail’s application to the Northland Regional and Whangarei District Councils for the consents needed to construct, operate and maintain the proposed rail link was heard in Whangarei early last month. (subs: Sept)

The application was heard by a four-strong panel comprising three Independent Commissioners - Rob van Voorthuysen, Alan Watson and Greg Shaw - and, in a limited role, Regional Councillor Lorraine Hill.

In making the application, KiwiRail’s lawyer James Gardner-Hopkins advised KiwiRail had several objectives.

These were to protect the rail corridor, to link the deepwater port at Marsden Pt to the national rail network, to provide an alternative safe, sustainable option for moving freight to, from and within Northland and to help the region’s future economic growth.

A total of 83 submissions had been received by the two Councils from 57 submitters. Of these submitters, 18 were in full support of the proposal and 14 had indicated conditional support. Twenty-one submitters were in full opposition, two others were partially opposed and the remaining two submitters were neutral.

The panel’s overall decision was that the project should be allowed to proceed, subject to a raft of conditions.

The panel recommended that KiwiRail, as the Requiring Authority, officially confirm the requirement to designate the land in the WDC’s Whangarei District Plan subject to conditions. The panel noted that somewhat unusually, being a Requiring Authority, KiwiRail can now choose whether or not to accept the recommended designation conditions.

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Meanwhile, on behalf of the Northland Regional Council, the Commissioners also granted KiwiRail’s application to “undertake construction, operation and maintenance works for railway purposes”. (These include earthworks, discharges and other water permits.)

Additionally, the Commissioners have recommended the Minister of Conservation grant several restricted coastal activity consent applications. (Because of the nature and scale of the proposed works - including reclamation of more than 20 hectares of foreshore and seabed alongside State Highway One between Oakleigh and Mata Hill – the Minister’s approval is needed.)

On behalf of the Whangarei District Council, the Commissioners also granted KiwiRail’s land use consent application. This enables KiwiRail to “undertake construction, operation and maintenance works for railway purposes on land to be reclaimed as part of the Marsden Pt Rail Link”.

The panel’s principal reasons for its decisions included that:

* Provision of the link would provide economic benefits to Northland and was consistent with the relevant transport planning provisions

* Confirming the designation would provide long-term certainty to landowners directly affected by the rail link, which had been suggested for several decades

* It was satisfied any more than minor actual and potential adverse effects associated with the project could be appropriately avoided, remedied or mitigated

* Directly affected property owners or lessees who felt designation conditions didn’t suitably deal with effects on their property could ask the Environment Court to order KiwiRail to buy or lease all or part of their land under the Public Works Act.

Both the applicant and submitters now have the ability to appeal the Panel’s decisions and recommendations to the Environment Court.

ENDS

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