Farmers a stumbling block for TrustPower

Other options sought

PENNY WARDLE

Not backing down: John and Joan McLauchlan vehemently oppose TrustPower's hydro-electricity scheme, which will result in a huge hydro canal being built quite literally in their backyard.

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A spoke in the wheel of TrustPower's plans to build a hydro-electricity scheme on the Wairau River, has been strong opposition from farmers John and Joan McLauchlan.

The McLauchlans are doggedly determined to prevent the company from building a 65- metre wide, four-metre deep stretch of canal into the side of a hillside above their homestead. Not only does the site sit a mere 150m from the northern branch of the active Alpine Fault, but these soils are extremely vulnerable to erosion, they say.

TrustPower community relations manager Graeme Purches last week conceded that if the McLauchlans were all that was standing between TrustPower and its scheme, the company might seek requiring authority status.

If granted, this would enable it to apply to the Marlborough District Council to set aside any land needed for energy generation infrastructure.

However, this was not a straightforward option and would also be unpopular, given the championing of private property rights in New Zealand.

The costs of seeking requiring authority would be weighed up against the expense of instead bypassing the McLauchlan farm altogether and building the canal elsewhere – a realistic scenario, Mr Purches said.

In May, the McLauchlans won the right to argue that the issuing of a resource consent to TrustPower to build the Wairau hydro scheme had been futile, based on the couple's determination to refuse the electricity company access to their land. Judge Gordon Whiting said he could not rule on the futility argument as a pre-trial matter. However, the argument could be raised at the full Environment Court hearing that began today.

Mr Purches said that under the Resource Management Act, there was no legal precedent for land issues, including ownership and easement, to be considered.

The McLauchlans could now take their argument to court, but there was no guarantee it would be considered, he said.

While some Wairau Valley farmers had not yet signed up to go along with TrustPower's plans, Mr Purches takes the fact that they had not formally appealed as tacit consent.

"A number have indicated, `You get the resource consent then we'll sign'," he said.

Three remained vehemently opposed although one of these had, contrary to public view, written a letter to TrustPower seeking "a ridiculous price" for their property.

"We are not going to get into a Dutch auction and pay out a lot of money," Mr Purches said.

"If landowners are reasonable and are not gold-diggers, we will do everything to meet their concerns." This could include building a bridge, erecting a fence or shifting a building that would be affected by the scheme, for example.

Earthquake risk was regarded by the company as a perceived concern which would not be paid for.

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