Council delays anger reef project's promoters

Orewa Beach. Photo / Natalie Slade

Frustrated promoters of an artificial reef at Orewa are urging the Auckland Council to hurry up and process an application which has been before officials for two years and three months.

Orewa Beach Reef Charitable Trust chairman Zane Taylor said the trust had faced "incomprehensible barriers" to lodge the application and get a public hearing on resource consents for the project.

The trust raised $500,000 from the community in the belief that a sandbag reef is the only sustainable way to restore the beach and stop erosion by storms.

Mr Taylor complained to councillors at a meeting in Orewa that the trust spent $35,000 to have applications for coastal permits rejected by the old Auckland Regional Council.

Demands for further information and charges for discussions among experts would cost $20,000.

"This money comes from the public purse. It would be far more productive use to spend the money on the reef."

He said resource management experts were flabbergasted at the treatment of the trust's bid which was backed by a 600-page assessment of environmental and ecological affects.

Environmental lawyer Sue Simons told the Herald: "Officers are saying they need more detail but it's evident from the material before them that the application meets the criteria under the Resource Management Act.

"It is going to a publicly notified application anyway so if there are any shortcomings in the detail of the application it will be either identified or addressed in the course of the hearing."

Shaw Mead, director of ASR Marine Consulting, said: "The proposal is for putting sand in bags - sand of the same grade as the beach - so it is easy to remove without damage to the environment.

"We are looking at a first stage of 600m of beach for a period of time to see how the reef performs under a series of storm events and whether it has a positive impact."

The trust has lodged an objection to its bid being rejected and to council charges.

Auckland Council resource consents manager Heather Harris said the costs incurred so far were directly related to processing two applications that were rejected.

However, a partial refund of the deposit for the second application would be made.

Council natural resources manager Ian Dobson said officials were not trying to stymie the application and the council had not formed an opinion.

The extra information was to put officials and public in the best position to assess the application and make submissions.

Mr Dobson said communications between the parties had not been the best but were improving.