By Deirdre Robert
Posted on July 29, 2010. Listed in:
It's bye-bye to plans for cubicle farming in the Mackenzie Basin, after resource consent applications were quashed today by the High Court. The ruling has left members of the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) ecstatic, while it's likely a few members of government and council are more than a little annoyed.
Under the court ruling, resource consents and certificates of compliance issued by Waitaki District Council for 3 large cubicle farming operations in the Mackenzie Country were quashed.
"Our High Court challenge related to land use consents. Previously effluent discharge consent applications that had been called in by the Minister for the Environment were withdrawn by the applicants,” says EDS chairman Gary Taylor.
The consents relate 8,555 hectares of the Mackenzie basin. They involved housing 17,850 dairy cows in large sheds around the clock from March to October and for 12 hours per day for the rest of the year. It is thought that up to 1.1 million litres of effluent could be discharged to pasture daily. The cows would be kept in stalls, fed in the sheds and milked robotically.
"Our concerns were primarily at the effects of the proposal on the fragile and unique tussock grasslands and landscapes of the Mackenzie Country. We do not believe that the future of this iconic part of New Zealand should be decided by individual resource consent applications,” says Taylor.
Taylor points to a failure of public policy at all levels and says the Government has failed to provide national guidance. He also points to the regional council, saying it has failed to identify nationally important landscapes, along with two district councils who have failed to develop coherent and effective district plans.
Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman says the High Court’s decision shows that the Waitaki District Council failed to look after this iconic landscape.
“EDS deserves massive congratulations for successfully taking this case to the High Court on behalf of the tens of thousands of New Zealanders who expressed concerns about these farms,” says Norman.
Earlier this year, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, sent a letter to Nick Smith, asking him to call in the resource consent applications for effluent and air discharges.
“I am particularly concerned about the effect of these dairying operations on the water quality of the Ohau and Ahuriri catchments,” she said. “The combined effluent of these operations would be similar in quantity to a city the size of Christchurch being located in the Mackenzie Basin.”
Taylor says there is now a real window of opportunity to prepare a long-term Strategic Plan for the area.
“In our view, that should be led by the local community but both Environment Canterbury and the Ministry for the Environment should be involved. It needs to look at the landscape, natural values and social and economic development options for the Mackenzie Country over the next 25 or more years."
Image: Flickr - law_keven
