EBOP office relocation heads for High Court

The Bay regional council's controversial decision to move its headquarters from Whakatane will again be debated in March _ this time in the High Court.
Three days have been set aside for the judicial review, to be held in Rotorua.
Whakatane, Opotiki and Rotorua district councils and Te Arawa Trust Board are challenging the decision-making process after Environment Bay of Plenty councillors in June voted 9-5 in favour of moving the head office to Tauranga.
The regional council wants to transfer 100 of its staff from Whakatane into a purpose-built building on the fringe of Tauranga within two years.
The High Court hearing will focus on whether Environment Bay of Plenty followed the proper process as outlined in the Local Government Act.
The appellants, Whakatane, Opotiki and Rotorua councils and Te Arawa, will be spending up to $200,000 on the hearing _ and Environment Bay of Plenty will fork out a similar amount to defend its case, including hiring Auckland QC Alan Galbraith.
Environment Bay of Plenty chief executive Bill Bayfield said if the process was found to be deficient then part of it or all of it would have to be re-run.
John Cronin, the regional council's chairman, was confident that the process had been followed.
"Absolutely. There has been a lot of misuse of information and we will await the outcome."
He said the Tauranga area was under-serviced by Environment Bay of Plenty staff, and there always needed to be a substantial movement of staff.
"But everyone overplayed the move as if we are abandoning eastern Bay. We are not; there will still be 100 staff based in the area," said Mr Cronin.
Mr Bayfield said the delay, caused by the legal challenge, was unfortunate. "It's costing us in terms of staff uncertainty that leads to morale and performance issues. Some people don't know whether to plan."
Mr Bayfield said some of the staff were thinking of building new homes and making life choices.
The regional council has taken additional office space in Rata St alongside its present rented premises at Mount Maunganui. There is room for an extra 25 staff and 10 of the positions have already been filled _ including shifting three people from Whakatane. The ultimate plan, now under judicial review, is to have a team of 130, including the senior management, operating in Tauranga.
But if there's any change then Environment Bay of Plenty is still looking to have 80 staff in Tauranga, and it will construct a new building instead of renting.
Mr Bayfield said his council had been told about 30 different sites in Tauranga and they have been shortlisted to five.
"We need a site that give us access to the main routes linking the whole region _ and it will be on the city outskirts," he said.
Mr Bayfield said he might make a site recommendation early next year, but the preference was to get the judicial review resolved and the give the councillors the confidence to move forward.