No Challenge to Environment Court Decision on Windfarms

Porirua City Council today received confirmation that a recent Environment Court decision (8 October 20120) on appeals to Plan Change 7 (Windfarms) will not be further appealed by either Mighty River Power or the New Zealand Wind Energy Association.

As such, the plan change to the Porirua City District Plan is now beyond any further legal challenge.

The Council will now move to make this plan change operative at the earliest opportunity.

"We are grateful and appreciative of encouragement and support provided by members of the Porirua community who enjoined the appeal process on the plan change," says District Plan Committee Chairperson Cllr Tim Sheppard.

"The commitment of those groups is reflected in the positive outcome for the community."

Porirua City Council's Proposed Plan Change 7 manages commercial scale wind farm proposals in the city.

The plan change requires wind turbines to be at least 700m away from a zone boundary or the boundary of a site not part of the wind farm or otherwise the wind farm proposal becomes a non-complying activity.
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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>