Clare
CURRAN

Dunedin South MP

21 November 2014 MEDIA RELEASE
Public outcry urged against destruction of Saddle Hill

It appears that only a public outcry against the inevitable destruction of Jaffray’s Hill, the lower hump of Saddle Hill, will save our iconic landscape, Dunedin South MP Clare Curran said today.

“Yesterday’s High Court decision overturning the Environment Court’s declaration that there was no consent to quarry the hill has left Saddle Hill vulnerable to destruction.

“That this issue has dragged on for so long is a travesty and demonstrates the inability of law and good sense to prevent the destruction of such an important landmark.

“The High Court appears to have left a slight glimmer of hope in asking that the parties now attempt to reach consensus on the way forward. While that it most unlikely, it perhaps means that the Dunedin City Council can return to the High Court to argue that consensus is impossible due to the fundamental differences between the desire of the landowner to quarry Saddle Hill and the community’s desire to keep an iconic landmark of historical significance intact.

“Despite an interim injunction being in place preventing the quarry business from digging along the ridge line further endangering the shape of the hill, diggers have been consistently observed and filmed along the ridgeline.

“I have organised a community meeting on Saturday 13 December to discuss this and the ongoing issues of heavy traffic movements along the Saddle Hill roads due to the quarrying which has long affected the community.

“I have also written to the Environment Minister Nick Smith advising him of the implications of this decision and asking for his intervention,” Clare Curran said.

“ The peaks of Saddle Hill were first named by Maori as Makamaka andPikiwara, and then by Captain Cook as Saddle Hill in 1770, and the area is rich with local history. Any further disfigurement will erode the historical tapestry of the landmark and must be prevented.”

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