Complaint over golf course sale
A formal complaint has been laid against the New Plymouth District Council over a lack of quality information about the proposed sale of the Fitzroy Golf Club.
Fitzroy resident Dr Kristian Slack wrote to NPDC chief executive Craig Stevenson saying the council’s consultation document on the 10 year plan around the proposed sale did not include sufficient information for the public to make an informed submission.
He also forwarded the letter to the Auditor General.
Next month the council will release the consultation document asking for feedback on the 10 year plan including the proposal to sell off part of the golf course for a housing development to fund flagship projects, such as extending the Coastal Walkway.
And last week the councillors had a confidential workshop with lawyers Simpson Grierson who came from out of the region to give their opinion on whether the project was feasible. Sticking points are whether the golf course has the right to renew its lease and whether the council would be able to revoke the reserve status of the land and rezone it for housing.
In the letter of complaint Slack said the draft consultation document, as it related to the funding of flagship projects through the sale of recreational reserve land, was ‘fundamentally flawed’.
‘‘Of particular concern is that the supporting information and consultation document do not provide the means for informing the ‘right debate’ and therefore is not fit for purpose under the Local Government Act.’’
Slack said a number of implicit assumptions had been made for which no information had been provided.
‘‘A glaring thing in the consultation document is the land is owned by the NPDC, but there is the risk it is not owned by the council. So, that is an assumption.’’
Another assumption was that the golf club didn’t have the right to renew its lease, he said.
‘‘The basic requirement for this is that the information and supplementary information for the consultation document should be quality information. And it requires the assumptions to be inserted in there.’’
A couple of weeks ago Mayor Neil Holdom said the council wouldn’t be taking the plan to the community if it wasn’t something the council had the ability to follow through on.
"All of these things can be done if there is support from the community. The key thing is – we’re saying to people let’s have the big discussion.
‘‘The organisation has done its homework and the information we’re providing for the community meets the requirements. The consultation document had been audited and we’ll be releasing a consultation document next month and that provides all the information and invites public feedback.’’
Questions put to the council around costs and legal advice were not answered by deadline.