Impasse over bill between councils still to be resolved

THE impasse between the West Coast Regional Council and the Westland District Council over a $90,000 invoice for new beach access over the Hokitika seawall remains, the regional council has heard.

About two months ago, the regional council received a bill from the Westland council claiming there was an agreement for it to pay a share.

The matter came up at the council’s resource management committee again last week after previous reports from management that a formal agreement with Westland had not been found.

Chief executive Heather Mabin has previously told the council a forensic search of the former operations manager’s email could not trace any formal agreement.

However, last week the Hokitika Guardian reported that former regional council operations manager Randal Beal had come forward to swear an affidavit stating there had been an agreement for the regional council to pay a share.

Ms Mabin did not refer to the possibility of a legal statement from the council’s former employee this week.

But in response to a question from the table, she said the regional council’s new infrastructure project leader Scott Hoare would be discussing the invoice matter at a meeting with Westland’s management soon.

It was also expected to be a topic at the planned Hokitika joint rating district meeting being planned at the end of September, Ms Mabin said.

ALL 216 sites and areas of significance to Maori on the West Coast have now been reviewed after a mapping glitch saw landowners mistakenly receiving letters advising them they were affected by the new district plan for the region.

A report to the West Coast Regional Council resource management committee last week said three types of errors had been identified in the maps outlining sites and areas of significance to Maori, developed for the Te Tai o Poutini Plan (TTPP):

Ellipsoid shapes in Poutini Ngai Tahu's mapping had been transferred into ‘‘an oval’’ in the TTPP map.

Areas which were to apply to water bodies only, when being plotted on to a GIS system, did not allow for the water body to have moved.

Silent files were shown in the hard copy maps but not the online versions.

Acting planning and science manager Rachel Vaughan in her report said letters had been drafted to advise affected property owners.

‘‘Letters have also been drafted to let property owners know that they have been incorrectly identified as having a site of significance to Maori on their property,’’ she said.

Extracting the affected rating addresses, mail merging and customising letters had required ‘‘careful, precise work’’.