Meeting of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council Hearings Committee

 

 

Date:                 Wednesday 5 June 2019

Time:                8.30am

Venue:

Council Chamber

Hawke's Bay Regional Council

159 Dalton Street

NAPIER

 

Agenda

 

Item     Subject                                                                                      Page

 

1.         Welcome/Notices/Apologies 

2.         Conflict of Interest Declarations  

3.         Confirmation of Minutes of the Hearings Committee held on 24 October 2018

Decision Items

4.         Hearing Panel Appointments                                                            3  

 

 


HAWKE’S BAY REGIONAL COUNCIL

Hearings Committee  

Wednesday 05 June 2019

Subject: Hearing Panel Appointments        

 

Reason for Report

1.      To provide information relating the upcoming resource consent hearing for Te Mata Mushrooms Co. Ltd and to enable the appointment of an additional commissioner to the Hearing Panel.

2.      Three Hearing Panel members have already been set by the Committee.  It is recommended that another commissioner is now added.

DP160229A – Te Mata Mushrooms Co. Ltd – application to discharge contaminants to air from the Te Mata Mushroom Co. Ltd facility on Brookvale Road, Havelock North

3.      This application was required by the 2016 Environment Court enforcement order. It is for a new consent to discharge contaminants to air (odour) from the composting activities on the site.

4.      The application was publicly notified in May 2017 and there were over 300 submissions. 

5.      An application for a land use consent was also made to Hastings District Council (HDC).  This was also notified and submissions on this application closed in April 2019.  Over 100 submission were received on the HDC application.  

6.      A joint hearing will be held on 31 July to 2 August 2019 at the Elwood Function Centre.

7.      The committee has already appointed Mr Bill Wasley (chair), Cnr Paul Bailey and Ms Louise Wickham to the HBRC Panel.

8.      HDC has appointed commissioners of their choosing, those being Mr Bill Wasley (chair), Ms Louise Wickham and Mr Paul Cooney.

9.      HDC has decided not to have elected representatives involved in the decision making for their application. Cnr Bailey will only sit in relation to the HBRC application and will not have a role in the decision on the HDC application.   

10.    Staff recommend that Mr Paul Cooney is also added to the HBRC panel. This will allow the panel to function in a more integrated manner and allow for a simpler deliberation and decision making process. 

11.    Mr Cooney has worked as a lawyer in Tauranga and has over 35 years specialising in Resource Management and Local Government Law. He is also a very experienced impendent hearings commissioner and has been involved in hearings for both regional and district councils.  Staff consider that it would be advantageous to have these skills as part of the HBRC panel.

Decision Making Process

12.    Pursuant to Section 34(1) of the Resource Management Act (RMA) the Hawke's Bay Regional Council has delegated the following functions, powers and/or duties under the RMA[1]:

12.1.    The appointment of Hearings Committee members or independent commissioners to a Hearing Panel to undertake the functions pursuant to s 34A RMA and the appointment of the Chairperson of the Hearing Panel.

 

Recommendations

That the Hearings Committee

1.      Receives and notes the “Hearing Panel Appointments” staff report.

2.      Makes the following appointments in accordance with its delegation to do so:  adds Mr Paul Cooney to the Hearing Panel to decide the Te Mata Mushrooms Co. Ltd resource consent applications.

 

Authored by:

Paul Barrett

Principal Consents Planner

Malcolm Miller

Manager Consents

Approved by:

Liz Lambert

Group Manager Regulation

 

 

Attachment/s

There are no attachments for this report.          



[1]     NOTE: For the avoidance of doubt, the Hearings Committee is not delegated the functions, powers and duties to hear and make decisions on submissions made in relation to a proposed plan, policy statement, plan change or variation under the RMA. Such functions, powers and duties are delegated to a Panel of accredited RMA hearings commissioners appointed by the Council on an as needed basis, based on recommendations from the Regional Planning Committee.