Unanimous decision by Waimate councillors to call in Government over waste-to-energy plant proposal

Tuesday, 20 June 2023

An artist's impression of the proposed waste-to-energy plant in Waimate.

Waimate District Councillors have unanimously agreed to ask the Minister for the Environment to take over the resource consent process for a controversial waste-to-energy plant proposed for the district.

South Island Resource Recovery Limited plans to build the $350 million plant, known as Project Kea, on a 15-hectare piece of land in Glenavy.

If Minister David Parker agrees to take over the process, Project Kea’s applications will be determined by either a board of inquiry or the Environment Court, instead of the regional or district council.

SIRRL counsel Mark Christensen, in a letter to Waimate District Council and Environment Canterbury on Monday, said the request to the minister “is tantamount to an admission that the councils have neither the capability nor the capacity to address the relevant issues in the normal way.”

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A flowchart on how the proposed waste-to-energy plant proposed for Waimate will work.

Waimate Council planner Emma Bush’s report, tabled at Tuesday’s council meeting, to seek approval from councillors to make the request to the minister received unanimous support from them.

A screen grab of a computer concept photograph of how the waste-to-energy plant near Glenavy in South Canterbury would look like once completed.

Council approved the report’s recommendations for a letter to be sent from Mayor Craig Rowley to the minister requesting him to take over the process and to send the letter on a joint basis with ECan, if ECan makes the same decision as them.

Some councillors were concerned if the applications were handed over to the Government, it could mean a loss of local voice and input but did not oppose Bush’s recommendations.

A public meeting in March in regard to the waste-to-energy plant proposal.

The meeting was attended in person by members of Why Waste Waimate, a group opposing the plant, and SIRRL had also zoomed into the meeting.

If the application is “called in”, appeal rights from the final decision by either the Environment Court or a board of enquiry, are also limited to appeals to the High Court on questions of law only.

SIRRL counsel Mark Christensen said SIRRL “simply cannot understand why they have been treated in such a discourteous manner.”

Before “calling in” an application, the minister will consider several criteria and also any advice provided by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in deciding whether a matter is, or is part of, a proposal of “national significance” before

The minister will also be required to consider the views of the applicant and local authority, the capacity of the local authority, and recommendations of the EPA when making the decision to “call in” the applications.

The location of SIRRL's waste-to-energy plant 2.5kms north of Glenavy.

Bush, in her report, said, “staff consider that the Project Kea application is likely to meet several of the criteria for national significance…and therefore there is a reasonable basis on which to make a request (and a reasonable prospect of success)”.

The project is already on hold until October as SIRRL work on getting a water permit for the plant after which a public hearing can take place.

Christensen, in the letter, said it was “highly unusual” for a request to call-in to be made at this early stage of processing the applications.

“… none of the matters on which the [council] officers rely for their recommendations meet the requisite standard to be worthy of a call-in.

“That is, there is nothing special about this application which takes it outside the usual environmental effects that your councils normally consider.

“SIRRL finds this surprising as the issues are nothing fundamentally different to those the councils have considered in a range of applications in the past.

“Most importantly, a call-in would make it more difficult for local people and council ratepayers to have their say and feel involved in the consenting process.

“Call-in would remove decision-making from the local level with outcomes now being imposed from Wellington.”

He said SIRRL would “prefer to allow local people to be more closely involved” because SIRRL “values their input and believes that making decisions regarding the merits of the application at the local level best serves the people of the Canterbury region.”

“South Island Resource Recovery Limited (SIRRL) is very disappointed that they seem to have been the last to know about council officers recommending to you that the councils request the Minister of the Environment to call-in SIRRL’s application.

“While Te Rūnanga O Waihao’s views were obtained, and there have clearly been discussions with officials in Wellington, SIRRL has deliberately been kept in the dark, being led to believe that they were working constructively with council staff.”

He said if council agreed to make the request to the minister and the minister agreed to the take over the applications, SIRRL would remain committed to working with the community, iwi, and officials going forward.