Lobbyists pleased

Press, 27 September 1983, Page 8

Lobbyists pleased

PA Dunedin Anti-smelter lobbyists said that they got more than they hoped for in the Planning Tribunal decision zoning the Aramoana site nonindustrial, but the Mayor of Dunedin has warned it could still be developed. The Mayor, Mr Cliff Skeggs, said yesterday, “There are other ways of killing the cat. Let us not say that Aramoana is dead. There are still lines open for further consideration.” The tribunal’s decision came after a nine-day hearing of appeals against the proposal in Dunedin in June. The chairman of the antismelter group, C.R.E.E.D.N.Z., Mr Richard Thomson, said the decision went “absolutely, entirely as we wanted it to ... more than we could have hoped

for in our wildest dreams.” He acknowledged that the “fast track” National Development Act could be used in future to establish industry at Aramoana, but said he thought it would be more difficult for the act to override a decision as clear and as absolute as the tribunal’s. A Save Aramoana Campaign spokesman, Miss Claire Carey, said the decision was really the nail in the proposed smelter’s coffin.

“We are delighted. It is the best decision we could have hoped for. It was as far as the tribunal could have gone.” She said the campaign would now aim to have the area made a reserve.

Mr Skeggs said that if firm proposals came forward, there were other

avenues open for development.

The chairman of the Silverpeaks County Council, Mr W. B. Stevenson, said the tribunal’s decision “was certainly a shock.” “The county felt that it had made a fair decision after hearing all of the evidence and I am surprised,” he said, “Now the matter is out of our hand.”

The chairman of the Otago Harbour Board, Mr I. J. Farquhar, said the decision was a matter of “great concern.” “I don’t think it should preclude industry there in future,” he said.

It was possibly the fact that no firm proposals were at hand when the tribunal considered the issue that swayed it from advocating industry.