Farmers Consider Judicial Review

5 July 2007
Farmers Consider Judicial Review

Farmers are considering judicial review after the Electricity Commission today approved a project to build a line of giant pylons from the Waikato into Auckland.

Federated Farmers’ member John Sexton, an Auckland farmer directly affected by the plans, said, “We agree that Auckland’s power supply needs a major upgrade. We are not about threatening security of supply. What we have a problem with is the process.

“There are alternatives to the Transpower proposal including upgrading existing lines that the Electricity Commission hasn’t properly considered. These alternatives are much cheaper, would be quicker to implement and would mean considerably less disruption to communities and businesses. It makes economic sense to maximise the capacity of existing lines before building new ones.

“The Electricity Commission’s job is to focus on the economic questions of whether Transpower is spending its money in the best way. We believe they are not. Land owners feel they have been deliberately marginalised and the process hasn’t been fair,” said Mr Sexton.

Federated Farmers is not convinced the Electricity Commission has considered the wider issues for land owners and the RMA process in the proposal. We are shocked that the many issues raised in at the Electricity Commission public conference have not been addressed.

“With this proposal the reality is power lines have to go through farmers land. How farmers can then manage that land is severely affected as restrictions come into play. Transpower must minimise their requirements on land owners or compensate fully for the long term effects of these conditions.

“The towers result in significant and ongoing losses for landowners. These losses stem from the removal of land from production due to the towers and access to the towers, restrictions on land management decisions, lower property values, and reduced opportunity to change land use,” said Mr Sexton.

ENDS

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