Dam: appeal unlikely

The Ruataniwha Dam has stirred up much debate.

A legal challenge to last month's High Court decision over the Ruataniwha dam seems unlikely after four of five parties involved in the case said they would not seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The High Court last month upheld a challenge brought by three environmental groups against the findings of a board of inquiry which granted consent to Hawke's Bay Regional Council's investment arm, Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company (HBRIC), to build the Ruataniwha water storage scheme in Central Hawke's Bay.

The court also upheld a challenge to a related change to the regional resource management, known as Plan Change 6.

In his ruling, Justice David Collins sent the matter back to the board of inquiry for further consideration.

Parties involved in the case had until Friday this week to seek leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Lawyers for the council and HBRIC said in a memorandum to the board of inquiry last month they did not intend to appeal.

One of the environmental groups involved in the challenge, the Environmental Defence Society, said yesterday it would not seek leave to appeal the High Court decision, even though it believed the court had wrongly ruled against it in relation to the third part of its three-pronged challenge.

An appeal on the third part of its claim was "academic" and not required given the High Court had referred the matter back to the board of inquiry, EDS executive director Gary Taylor said.

This would enable the board to address EDS' "primary concern" which was that Plan Change 6 included enforceable provisions for monitoring nitrogen levels in the Tukituki catchment.

"EDS will participate in the fresh hearing before the board, along with the other appellants Fish & Game and Forest & Bird, and will be seeking enforceable rules to protect the ecosystem health of the catchment," Mr Taylor said.

"If the presence of such rules makes the dam uneconomic, then so be it. The days when we allowed land use intensification to pollute our waterways are over."

A spokesperson for Forest & Bird said the organisation would also not be pursuing an appeal.

Fish & Game chief executive Bryce Johnson said his organisation was still reviewing its position.