19 April 2004

Penrose Quarry owners seek private plan change

Auckland City Council’s Regulatory and Fixtures subcommittee has recommended that the proposed private plan change put forward by Fulton Hogan Limited to rezone a portion of the Penrose Quarry be publicly notified.

The land that is the subject of the plan change is the northern portion of Penrose Quarry, comprising the main quarry pit area. Fulton Hogan has applied to the council for a private plan change to change the quarry from its existing Business 4 zone to Residential 8a and Open Space 2 zones.

Activity at the quarry has now ceased and Fulton Hogan are due to start filling in the quarry as part of the rehabilitation process as specified in the resource consent granted by council in 1998.

Councillor Juliet Yates, chairperson of the Regulatory and Fixtures Subcommittee says, “The council has an obligation to process all plan change requests. Private individuals are able to request plan changes in accordance with the Resource Management Act. However, before the council makes a decision on accepting the plan change an extensive consultation period is gone through and this process starts with public notification.”

The plan change was notified on Sunday 18 April, and this will be followed by a month long submission process where members of the public can let the council know whether they support or oppose the proposed plan change.

At the end of this month long process, council summarises the submissions made and notifies this summary which starts a month long further submission period. During this time the public are able to voice their support or opposition to the submissions made.

At the end of this period the submitters information and all submissions received to the plan change are assessed and a council hearing is held. The applicant and all submitters are able to attend this hearing to speak either in support or opposition to the plan change. A decision is then made by council on whether to grant or refuse the plan change.

If either the applicant or any of the submitters are not happy with the council’s final decision, they are able to appeal to the Environment Court.

“Fulton Hogan have already done some initial consultation with the quarry’s immediate neighbours, and we encourage anybody with an interest in this site to get involved in this consultation process”, says Mrs Yates.

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