Bill to expedite big schemes

Press, 2 October 1979, Page 14

Bill to expedite big schemes

Wellington reporter ; Within two months New: Zealand should have new' legislation that streamlines; large development plans, i such as Maui, and almost completely removes rights of' appeal against those plans. : This Government policy;, was announced by the 1 Under-Secretary of Energy. (Mr Brill) at a briefing in! Wellington given to critics, of the proposal, and other’ interested parties. A new national develop-, 1 ment bill would probably be I introduced to Parliament on I Friday, according yesterday;' to the Acting Prime Minister ! (Mr Taiboys). .Mr Brill has said it was! hoped to send it to a Parlia-I mentary select committee in!' mid-October, and pass it into! law before the end of the! Parliamentary session (prob-H ; ably mid-November). I Mr Brill chaired the brief-1' ing which was attended by the Minister of Energy (Mry Birch, and the Minister of J :Tourism (Mr Cooper) who,! with Mr Brill, have been I members of the Government! committee preparing the bill' l for the last two months. p Critics of the proposals in! j the bill, such as the Environmental Defence Society p and environmental and con-! 1 servation organisations,' l attended the briefing. p There was a draft of thep bill to hand but Mr Brill didp not pass out copies because! it was only a draft. He read! it out clause by clause and" invited comment on eachjl clause and in total. Most ofii the comment at the meeting;! was muted. i In view of all the permits! and authorities needed for a i big development project, Mrp Brill said the Government It wanted to offer “a fast* track.’” l< By declaring projects to I be of “national importance”.! by Order-in-Council, the' Government would usher in 1 a new streamlined process,!

I without spending years of ’frustration before tribunals and planning authorities, and with a succession of appeals .afterwards. i He emphasised that even if projects were declared to ’ be of “national importance," ! the Government would not ijust drive ahead regardless 'of any legitimate criticism. Both private and Government agencies can apply for a declaration of “national ’importance” for a project j under the proposed legislation. j The application to the [Minister of National Devel[opment must be accom‘panied by detailed relevant [information, and then goes [to a tribunal to consider and [make a recommendation to [the Minister. . . [ The bill provides for one [of the tribunals established [under the Town and Country [Planning Act, 1977, to consider an application, plus en’vironmental impact report .and audit, plus comment [from any interested parties. I Mr Brill said copies of the .bill would be made available [to the public when it was ! introduced in Parliament, [but not before. ! One of the stimuli for the bill is a long letter from BP [(New Zealand) Ltd, pointing [out that more than 30 differlent approvals would be ■needed for setting up a met- ; hanol plant, should one be [needed. I The Winstone-Chonju joint I veutre for a pulp mill at 'venture for a pulp mill at [Karioi near Waiouru opened I in March also needed more than 30 permits and authorities. I Further, the Government is known to be concerned about delays on the high [dam at Clyde to harness the 'Clutha River caused by [drawn-out appeal procedures being used by opponents of the scheme. . ! Recent United States legislation acted to streamline the process for achieving major

f energy development, and the s New Zealand bill is designed I similarly. s Mr Brill said projects involving Maui gas would be t the main candidates for the o use of the streamlined ’ procedures in the bill. t He did not specify any s others but other candidates might be big pulp and paper - enterprises, milling of native r timber in any quantity, min--1 ing the eastern Southland t lignite fields, establishing a ■ ferro-silica plant (using l beech for charcoal) in J Southland, or big new elec- - tricity projects. Rights of appeal will 'be t very restricted under the! 5 proposed legislation. The i draft bill had a huge clause J excluding ail rights of appeal except under very un-| ? usual circumstances. I The increasing in-. 7 volvement of the court sys- ■ - tern in planning matters and: - to review administration will i t almost disappear for pro-1 t jects of “national importance." The power of the; t courts in such matters will I ; revert to the position of! > about 30 years ago when [ , they were hardly involved at I all. ! Some protection is given [ ’ far environmental consid-, ; erations. The Government ’ - believes the proposal will' : strengthen the powers of the - Commission for the Environ- i ' ment. Before the tribunal hears t the matter, environmental! impact reporting and audit- - ing will be mandatary. The 1 Commissioner for the Envi- • ronment will be given specific rights to appear separately from the Crown case’ before the tribunal. Mr Brill was at pains to[ reassure those present at the; ' briefing that passage of the! legislation did not mean an[ [ irreversible Government! commitment to any particu-j ilar development for which.! an application for “National; importance” status was! made.