The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Proposal to build on high-class soil opposed

By David Loughrey
Otago Daily Times·
6 Sep, 2017 11:40 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Dunedin City Council Councillor Jim O'Malley. Photo / Supplied

Dunedin City Council Councillor Jim O'Malley. Photo / Supplied

A plan to subdivide a former market garden in Outram has been criticised by opponents who say it will waste land that could form part of Dunedin's ''food basket''.

The land, near Outram School, features high-class soil they say needs to be protected on the Taieri.

But the developer argued at a resource consent hearing it was no longer economically viable to farm the small site.

At the moment it was in grass and being used for baleage, something that only paid for the property's rates.

CC Otago Ltd director Craig Horne has applied for consent to establish a residence on 1.6ha of land at 91 Formby St and to subdivide 99 Formby St into eight lots along the street frontage with a larger, 2.6ha, lot behind.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In her report, council planner Lianne Darby said the developments on both would be non-complying: both were a mixture of residential land on the street frontage and rural land behind.

Mrs Darby recommended the council grant consent for 91 Formby St.

For 99, however, she recommended it grant consent in part.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She told a hearings committee of commissioner Keith Hovell, Cr Jim O'Malley and Otago regional councillor Andrew Noone the site had enough residential land for eight dwellings to be built within the rules of the district plan.

She said the rural-zoned land should be held as a single entity as part of one of the eight residential dwellings, providing a building block for the rural land, ensuring it could continue as a productive block.

In his evidence, Mr Horne's counsel, Allan Cubitt, said the properties had been a market garden, farmed in conjunction with another property until recently.

They were now used for baleage and were no longer economic as market gardens, Mr Cubitt said.

The fact the council had zoned the street frontage residential ''is a clear indication that council sees this area as appropriate for future development''.

Mr Horne said the land was not at risk of flooding as other parts of Outram had been in the July floods.

He told Mr Noone it was about 1m to 2m higher than most of Outram's residential land.

There were five submissions opposing the consent, and one neutral.

Andy Barratt spoke to his submissions on behalf of Our Food Network, which he said promoted local food.

He commended the Dunedin City Council on setting minimum lot sizes for rural zones, which had ''ensured the rural zone has not been subjected to the sort of fragmentation that has blighted the peri-urban zone of a number of New Zealand cities''.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For Dunedin Rural Development, which worked to help develop rural zones with commercial potential, Murray Harris said 3723ha on the Taieri was classified as high-class soils.

Those soils had formed over thousands of years.

There were not a lot of large areas left, and they needed to be protected.

''This area is prime land.''

Food security was an issue ''throughout New Zealand'', Mr Harris said.

Patricia Scott, of Outram, said she had lived on the Taieri for 50 years.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

If all recent residential consents were taken into account, there could be 50 or 60 new homes built in the township, a 25% increase on a housing stock of 249 in a town with no wastewater or sewerage system.

But Mrs Scott said the protection of high-class soils was the most important issue.

There was an increasing preference for locally grown food and, considering food security issues, the Taieri might, perhaps in 20 years' time, once again become the food basket of Dunedin.

''The Dunedin City Council cannot continue to allow residential development on this vital resource.''

In response, Mr Cubitt said while the proposal might not enhance the position in terms of rural soil and rural use, ''it doesn't worsen it either''.

''You can't force people to use land the way you want them to. You can encourage them to use it a certain way.''

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The proposal was the best way to use the land more productively than it was.

The committee moved to non-public discussion on the application.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

'There are two ways you can look at this': David Seymour on the upside of costly butter

Premium
The Country

Stuck in Middle Rd with ewes: Councillors against Havelock North development due to soil quality

The Country

'Thieves knew what they were doing': 65 calves stolen from roadside paddock


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

'There are two ways you can look at this': David Seymour on the upside of costly butter
The Country

'There are two ways you can look at this': David Seymour on the upside of costly butter

Butter prices have nearly doubled to $8.60 for a 500g block in 14 months.

22 Jul 09:37 PM
Premium
Premium
Stuck in Middle Rd with ewes: Councillors against Havelock North development due to soil quality
The Country

Stuck in Middle Rd with ewes: Councillors against Havelock North development due to soil quality

22 Jul 06:00 PM
'Thieves knew what they were doing': 65 calves stolen from roadside paddock
The Country

'Thieves knew what they were doing': 65 calves stolen from roadside paddock

22 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP