by Dianne Buchan
There seems to be a widespread misunderstanding about the planning consent processes under the new Environmental Protection Authority. Too many assume that for any application sent to the Authority, approval is a done deal.

To the contrary, in regard to the Transmission Gully Motorway, a Board of Inquiry has been appointed to consider whether or not to approve the plan change to the Regional Freshwater Plan which the NZ Transport Agency is seeking. This is a necessary pre-requisite for progressing the planning application for the motorway; without a plan change, the motorway would be in breach of the standards set down in the Plan. In making its decision, the Board will take into consideration the requirements of the Resource Management Act to (among other things) protect the natural and physical environment and avoid, remedy or mitigate any adverse effects on the environment.

If approval is granted to the plan change, the application will proceed to another panel appointed by the EPA to hear the case. Again this panel will be making its decision within the constraints imposed by the Resource Management Act. Many commentators – both official and unofficial – seem to think that because the Transmission Gully proposal is being processed by the EPA (rather than by the local councils and the Environment Court) an outcome favouring the Transport Agency’s submission is a foregone conclusion. This belittles the independent status of the EPA.

If the project is indeed a done deal, then why are we paying fees to these boards of independent commissioners to sit for weeks hearing evidence from expert witnesses on the environmental considerations to be taken into account? I think it is time everyone started thinking and speaking in terms of IF rather than when. To do otherwise is to put undue pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency Boards and to run the risk of making the whole process appear to be a sham.

Dianne Buchan is a member of the New Zealand Planning Institute, a Certified Environmental Practitioner and a Life Member of the Wellington Civic Trust