Stop work, retirement village told by council

Work has stalled on the final stage of the multimillion-dollar Ernest Rutherford Retirement Village in Stoke due to a dispute with Nelson City Council which is now threatening more than a dozen jobs.

Andrew Mitchell, the development manager for Ryman Healthcare which owns the village, said the council issued a stopwork notice last week preventing about 17 contract builders from doing any work.

"We're trying everything we can within reason to ensure there isn't unemployment. We can't hold on to the workforce indefinitely. We're reviewing it on a day-by-day basis."

However, Nelson City Council environment and planning divisional manager Richard Johnson said the stopwork notice had to be issued because development was proceeding without the proper consents in place.

"It should not have taken this long to resolve the issues but we sent a letter to Ryman in October seeking to progress the matter and waited until January for a response. We don't feel the blame for delays should be laid at council's door."

Various letters and emails were being exchanged between lawyers and an agreement on drainage issues was "very close", he said.

He said a necessary variation to an original resource consent was lodged with the council on February 4 reflecting Ryman's changed plans, and the council was processing that variation as a matter of urgency so a decision could be made and so that Ryman holds a resource consent for the work proposed.

The final stage of the development, involving the construction of a dementia care unit, more rest home beds and independent units, is expected to take 10 to 12 months and involve hundreds of workers at its peak.

Mr Mitchell said Ryman Healthcare had been in dispute with the council for a long time regarding the level of financial contributions that it should be required to pay.

"Financial contributions are in place for the council to recover costs if they have to spend money providing infrastructure for services generated by development."

It involved a "high six-figure" sum and Ryman Healthcare had provided a bond so the council knew it had the ability to pay when the dispute was settled. The issue was currently being mediated through the Environment Court, he said.

Mr Mitchell was highly critical of the council's approach, saying it had been the most difficult local authority that Ryman Healthcare had ever dealt with. "Our core business is comprehensive retirement villages. We're not a developer and we've tried everything we can to have an amicable relationship (with the council)."

Mr Johnson said the stopwork notice had nothing to do with financial and development contributions. "That's parked off to one side. This is all about commencing work without building consent. We're equally concerned about the employment issue but that does not authorise us to act unlawfully. We have to apply the legislation fairly and consistently."

Peter Daly, a worker on the site who also acts as a health and safety representative, said the workers were anxious about their future.

"We're really just holding our breath waiting to see what happens. Staff feel like they are at the mercy of Nelson City Council."

Mr Daly has worked on the development for about three years.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Newest First

Oldest First