Group loses fight over volcano road

An environmental lobby group has failed to divert a proposed motorway extension affecting the Mt Roskill volcanic cone.

The Auckland Volcanic Cones Society had appealed against an Environment Court decision which upheld a "notice of requirement" by Transit NZ in relation to an extension of the motorway corridor of State Highway 20, from Hillsborough Rd to Richardson Rd.

But Justice Robert Smellie and Justice Geoffrey Venning, sitting as a full bench of the High Court, this week dismissed the appeal.

The society had sought in the Environment Court to protect the cone from cutting into its northern face, the judges said.

The society had not sought to stop the extension, but had put forward alternative proposals.

In their decision the judges said that the Mt Roskill cone was one of the few cones on the Auckland isthmus still relatively unspoiled.

The 5.4km State Highway 20 extension forms part of the western ring route which, when complete, will bypass the Harbour Bridge and the motorway through central Auckland.

The route also includes a Manukau link to the Southern Motorway and a proposed link from Richardson Rd/Stoddard Rd through Avondale to connect with State Highway 16, which is at present under investigation.

The judges said that the Environment Court made no error of law.

Paul Cavanagh, QC, representing the society had said that despite accepting the Mt Roskill cone as a matter of national importance, the Environment Court failed to recognise and provide for it.

He also said the Environment Court failed to identify and acknowledge the adverse effects on the cone and that the court had made no attempt to place any weight on its intrinsic value, submissions rejected by the judges.

The society had told the Environment Court that the absence of the ultimate link to State Highway 16 rendered the notice of requirement premature.