Huge bills feared for ratepayers

Ratepayers will be lumped with hefty bills if proposed changes to the Resource Management Act go ahead, the Palmerston North City Council is warning.

The council has spent $475,000 on the call-in for the Turitea Wind Farm, and says moves to make call-ins easier mean more councils will face similar bills.

But Environment Minister Nick Smith said councils should not spend that much, and could choose not to submit.

The Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill 2009 proposes to increase the scope of call-in powers, and to establish an Environmental Protection Agency to administer call-ins.

A summary of the bill states the "intention of the reforms is to make greater use of the existing board of inquiry process, but to also improve the capacity for local authorities and communities to have confidence and involvement in that process".

But in its submission on the bill, the city council warned local authorities would face huge costs.

Under normal consent processes, the council was the consenting authority and could recoup expenses from the applicant, but with call-ins the council became a submitter and could not recover costs.

Instead, ratepayers got the bill.

"Even for a relatively large authority such as PNCC, the ability to absorb such costs is limited ... to the detriment of local communities."

Mayor Jono Naylor said the council had first-hand experience, after spending $475,000 submitting on the Turitea Wind Farm money it had not budgeted for.

But Mr Smith said that cost was "over the top", and submitting was optional.

The whole point of the change was to cut out unnecessary consultant charges. "The council, as with any other interest group, needs to weigh up whether it needs to make a submission."

Mr Naylor said not submitting was not a realistic option. "The public will see local authorities as guardians of their interests."

The council's submission called for a way to recoup costs.

"PNCC considers it essential that the call-in procedure be accompanied by a mechanism whereby the costs of participating in the inquiry can be recovered ... either from the applicant or from Government."

The council also had concerns about the level of local representation when call-ins did occur.

"There is nothing in the bill which requires the minister to ensure adequate local representation ... the minister need only 'consider' the need," the submission said.

Mr Naylor said local participation was vital.

"It is local communities who know their communities."

Mr Smith said he was open to improvements, but the local communities would be involved.

Currently most consents were appealed to the Environment Court anyway, and the changes would simply cut out the first stage.

"We want to have one step, do it properly, but include local representation at that stage."

Submissions for the bill close today.