Canal diversion agreed

DAVID HALLETT/The Press

FRUSTRATED: Madeleine de Jong, a bed and breakfast owner, says it is impossible for ``ordinary people'' to fight the irrigation project.

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A Canterbury irrigation project's canal is being diverted around a planned dairy plant near Darfield, prompting claims of favouritism.

Central Plains Water (CPW) has confirmed its notice of requirement – an official designation over private land to be used for nationally important projects – by largely accepting recommendations from commissioners.

The Selwyn District Council last week sent letters to more than 80 people who will have irrigation infrastructure built on their land.

However, dairy giant Fonterra has secured CPW's approval for the canal to skirt around the edge of its proposed $150 million milk-processing plant.

Malvern Hills Protection Society spokeswoman Rosalie Snoyink said the move smacked of favouritism.

"They haven't shown similar consideration to other landowners," she said.

Fonterra last year lent CPW $2m to help it acquire its resource consent.

Most of the 680 hectares for Fonterra's Darfield plant and treated-wastewater disposal will be bought from farmer Pete Morrison, the son of Central Plains Water Ltd chairman Pat Morrison.

The Fonterra plant will be built across the road from The Oaks Historic Homestead. CPW's canal will also pass nearby.

The bed and breakfast's owner, Madeleine de Jong, said the way CPW and Fonterra had handled their developments made her "shocking" situation even worse.

"We ordinary people, who are just trying to make a living, can't fight people like the Morrisons, Central Plains and Fonterra, who are all working together and dreamed this up years ago," she said.

Pat Morrison said parts of the canal route had been shifted at the request of landowners, "and we will continue to do that where we can".

"If the ground is flat and the levels are similar and [the route] is no longer, then it's the logical thing to do, which was the case with Fonterra," he said. "We don't want to wreck anyone's property."

Tim Deans, a farmer at Homebush, west of Darfield, said he had not had the opportunity to discuss the route of the canal cutting through his property in two places. "Other people have requested movements [from CPW] and got no response."

Affected landowners and the almost 600 submitters on the notice of requirement have until August 20 to appeal against CPW's decision confirming the designation.

CPW's water will be from the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers through a network of canals and pipelines spanning hundreds of kilometres, with plans to irrigate up to 60,000 hectares.

- © Fairfax NZ News