Mt Messenger landowners lose another appeal as costs mount

Tuesday, 5 November 2024

The Court of Appeal has ruled in the Crown’s favour in the latest legal battle over the Mt Messenger bypass project.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has welcomed the latest legal ruling in the drawn out process of acquiring land to complete the Mt Messenger bypass project.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s decision against Tony and Debbie Pascoe, who have been fighting the project since it was first announced in 2016, as they desperately try to keep control of their 11ha of land in the Mangapēpeke Valley.

Their latest appeal decision centred on an argument that they were entitled to only negotiate with the Minister of Land or by a Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) official with a formal delegation from the Minister to carry out the negotiations over the acquisition of their land.

However, the Crown successfully argued to the High Court, and then the Court of Appeal, that the agency’s contracted negotiator, The Property Group, could legally carry out the work.

Tony Pascoe and his wife Debbie, have mounted numerous legal challenges against the Mt Messenger bypass.

The couple had also lost an Environment Court decision in May, which they have subsequently appealed to the High Court, which ruled their land could be compulsorily acquired through the Public Works Act.

While the Court of Appeal has also ruled the Pascoe’s pay costs, the legal issues associated with their numerous court cases they had taken up had a cumulative impact on the cost and rate of progress for the Mt Messenger bypass project, which was last budgeted to cost $280 million.

When first announced in 2016, the bypass project was expected to cost about $90m.

That figure has not been updated for an extended period of time, with NZTA saying in October that delays during the course of legal action, meant it now anticipated having an updated cost estimate by the end of the year.

The last budget for the project was $280m, with that cost expected to rise when updated later this year.

NZTA regional manager of infrastructure delivery Rob Partridge said the latest court ruling was a timely boost for the construction team building the 6km Te ara o Te Ata project as they await the last of the Pascoe’s appeals.

“We are taking up every avenue to progress resolution of all outstanding legal proceedings, and gain access to the land needed at the northern end of the project as soon as possible,” said Partridge.

New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom has highlighted the costs associated with numerous legal challenges.

The protracted legal proceedings associated with this project, and the delays it had caused, has drawn question marks over the fit-for-purpose nature of the Resource Management Act and Public Works Act.

Infrastructure New Zealand policy director Michelle McCormick said the project was a prime example of the need for change given the legal challenges had taken up “a phenomenal amount of time”.

“There was an appeal through the Public Works Act on the actual merits of the project again, whereas that had all been decided through an RMA process. It was like two bites of the cherry, really,” she said.

In an opinion piece to the Taranaki Daily News, New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom also waded into the call for change to both Acts, citing the incredible cost associated with the Pascoe’s legal challenges.

“The Pascoes had their day in court and lost. Then they had another day in court and lost again. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another,” he wrote.

“All the while costs have been increasing. Pressure has been increasing. Nobody has benefited from this prolonged, uncertain and messy process but the lawyers.”