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Waste Management’s dogged pursuit of its resource consent for a super dump, south of Wellsford, during the Covid-19 lockdown could be aired in Parliament later this month.
Auckland Council officers, Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers, Local Board chair Phelan Pirrie and five MPs last week called for the process to be postponed until life gets back to normal.
However, the appeals fell on deaf ears as Waste Management has refused to change the public submission timetable.
Now, there is a push for the law to be changed around who can postpone such processes.
Helensville MP Chris Penk is calling for a law change as soon as Parliament resumes, which he says is set to happen the week after next.
He has written to Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta asking whether she is considering legislation to ensure that submissions deadlines for resource consent applications, such as the Dome Valley landfill, can be extended by authorities such as Auckland Council, not just the applicants.
Rodney MP Marja Lubeck has also written to Ms Mahuta and to Environment Minister David Parker about the Waste Management resource consent application and response by Council.
Under the Resource Management Act (RMA), Auckland Council cannot halt the application process itself once it has been publicly notified – only the applicant, Waste Management NZ, can do that, but it has refused to do so. The landfill application was notified on March 26, the first day of the lockdown.
Some MPs and council officers were looking into whether government could change the RMA rules under emergency legislation. However, according to Marja Lubeck’s office today (Thursday), only Parliament can change actual laws, and as Parliament is not currently sitting, such changes are not possible until it does.
In a statement, the waste giant said that during what it called a “difficult time”, it “generally wouldn’t oppose any late submissions being accepted” after the May 26 deadline, but added that it might even need to reconsider that approach.
“We are mindful that both Council and Waste Management need to assess any late submissions, and both Council and Waste Management need time to be able to respond to them,” a company email statement said. “We have therefore indicated to Council that we may need to reconsider this position for any submissions that may be filed with Council after the date that is 15 working days before Council circulates its S.42A report (the report that Council must prepare before the hearing).”
