Media Release. Attention Local Government, Environment, Farming, Business and Political Reporters.

12 April 2011

Marlborough District Council Needs An Independent Investigation.

A call for a Government supported commissioner to investigate claims of corruption in Marlborough District Council, needs to be extended to an investigation of the Council’s Resource Management Consenting process, and should probably involve the Ombudsman’s office as well as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, according to local environmentalist Steffan Browning.

Too often in Marlborough, we see the Council having a very inconsistent approach to Resource Management issues which allow significant and negative environmental effects to continue with little community challenge. It could be called a corruption of process. My experience over the last 20 years show systemic management and governance shortcomings.

Examples include;

1. Assessments of Environmental Effects with significant potential effects gaps, and a lack of requests for further evidence or research.

2. Commissioners with conflicts of interest assigned to hear Resource Consent Applications.

3. Limited or no notification of consent applications avoiding those directly affected by development proposals.

4. Use of the Resource Consents hearings process rather than use of the Plan Change mechanism when anomalies in the Resource Management Plan are identified.

5. ‘Global’ and loose consents for macro-economic activities such as forestry harvesting, that have significant local and regional environmental effects.

6. Misinterpretation of Plan rules to allow large scale activities with significant environmental effects, such as determining permanently sited log fumigant release, as a mobile activity.

7. Favouritism towards some developers by allowing activities after lapsed date, yet taking others to the Environment Court when compliance has been significantly met.

The corruption of process may reflect weaknesses inherently more likely in a Unitary Authority, but the financial, social and environmental cost, has been and is significant to the Marlborough region.

Following the last Local Government elections there have been signs of some positive changes, however correction is not apparent in many of the examples, and with significant cuts to Resource Consents staffing, and senior management effectively unchanged, there can be little confidence in improvement without a thorough and independent investigation of Council processes.

ENDS

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