The Whakatāne District Council has decided not to appeal the Environment Court’s decision to decline the land designations and resource consent for a proposed wastewater treatment plant at Matatā.

At a meeting of The Council’s Projects and Services Committee today, Councillors resolved:

• That the Council agrees not to lodge a High Court appeal against Decision No. [2015] NZEnvC 90 relating to the Matatā Wastewater Treatment Plant site
• That the Council explores other options and solutions for Matatā wastewater

Mayor Tony Bonne says that although legal advisors believed there were grounds for an appeal, the cost and delay associated with pursuing an action in the High Court, and the uncertainty around the final outcome, meant that course was “unlikely to deliver a good result for the Matatā community”.

“The High Court very rarely substitutes its own decision for that of the Environment Court, so even if an appeal was successful, the matter would probably have to go back to the Environment Court for a rehearing,” he says. “That could add up to $700,000 to the $2.3 million already expended to get the project to this point and it’s unlikely that we would have a confirmed decision until well into 2016. Even then, there is no certainty that we would end up with resource consents which would allow a wastewater scheme to be constructed and operated at an affordable cost to District ratepayers.

“Under the circumstances, we have agreed not to appeal the decision relating to the treatment plant site and to investigate other options.”

Once the cost implications of any viable alternatives have been established, the Council also intends to investigate other partnership funding possibilities for a wastewater scheme. In the meantime, the resource consent for the land application field (disposal site) will be explored, so that the Council can assess whether the conditions applied by the Environment Court are achievable. Alternative sites for the wastewater treatment plant, and potentially the land application field, will be considered, as will all other possible solutions.

Mr Bonne says the Council will also raise several matters of concern arising from the Environment Court’s decision with the Government.

“There’s little doubt that the Court’s approach to Māori Trust-owned land issues would require a level of consultation that would make any development problematic. More concerning though is the Court’s interpretation of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, which would add significantly to the cost and complexity of obtaining resource consents, or renewing existing consents, for the discharge of treated wastewater by communities across New Zealand.”