Judge backs cathedral process
A New Plymouth man who took the district council to court over its processes around moving the old vicarage on the Taranaki Cathedral site is vowing to continue the fight, despite losing the case.
Wayne O’Keeffe, who lives opposite The Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary, said he was bitterly disappointed and was looking at other options after a judge threw out his attempt to get a resource consent for work on the site overturned.
His submission to the court said New Plymouth District Council’s (NPDC) decision to grant the $15 million Cathedral redevelopment project resource consent on a non-notified basis was unlawful, in particular the moving of the vicarage.
Neighbours had no idea the work was happening, O’Keeffe said, and he had 24 of their signatures on a petition supporting his case.
‘‘I definitely haven’t given up on seeking justice and correct process.’’
His submission also talked about the relocated vicarage being over the District Plan height restrictions and increased traffic and parking problems resulting from events that will be held once the work is finished.
He was ‘‘obviously pretty disappointed’’.
‘‘The decision came back a lot faster than we thought it would. We’re just reading through the detail of it all and working through the next steps. I haven’t given up by any means.’’
Taranaki Cathedral project manager Jenny Goddard said it was a huge relief to know the council went through the right process.
In July, the vicarage, built in 1899, was moved about 20 metres towards the main road to make room for a car park.
‘‘It’s been a very anxious time as you can imagine,’’ Goddard said. ‘‘We put a hold on the work. We completed the relocation of
the vicarage because we were in the middle of that when the judicial review was filed, so we felt we had no choice but to do that.’’
But all other work was stopped, putting the project behind schedule.
Architects are now involved in other work, so it might not start again until February, Goddard said. ‘‘We’ve probably lost about seven months of progress. Construction costs increase as time goes on. We are fearful of that as well.’’
But Goddard has received good news in the form of a $3m donation from St John’s College Trust Fund, which pushes the total raised to $12m, close to the target of $15m.
In an emailed statement, NPDC Group Manager Planning and Infrastructure David Langford said he is pleased with the court’s decision, which cost NPDC about $25,000, because it underlined that the council followed the correct procedures.
‘‘We always encourage people who are planning private developments to talk to neighbours and other people who might be affected by their project before submitting their consent applications.’’