Track’s cut heights may exceed limit

The stalled Te Mata Peak track in Hawke’s Bay does not comply with the cut height restriction set out in its resource consent, new documents show.

Files obtained by Stuff under the Official Information Act detail conversations from December between a Hastings District Council compliance manager and Craggy Range Winery, which carved the track.

On December 21, Scott Cuttriss, from the environmental monitoring and compliance department, emailed winery chief executive Michael Wilding, and Matthew Holder, the principal planner at Development Nous – the consultant hired to manage the consent process for the winery.

Cuttriss said the track’s cut heights were non-compliant with the condition that there ‘‘shall be no cuts within an overall vertical extent greater than 1 metre’’.

Cut heights at the base and middle sections of the track had about four areas which breached the rule, at heights of up to 1.4m, whereas the top section had about seven areas with heights of up to 1.6m.

Cuttriss said the winery would have to contact the council to submit what remedial action would be done.

Council spokeswoman Jane Mackay told Stuff council enforcement staff contacted the winery again on February 22, asking for an update on what remedial action it planned to take.

‘‘Craggy Range [Winery] informed council that they had commissioned a landscape architect to complete a plan of the cuts and would have it independently peer reviewed.

‘‘Council enforcement staff are pursuing a survey plan from Craggy Range which details the compliances and non-compliances.’’

Holder disputed the council’s measurements.

The winery built the track after resource consent was granted by the council last year, without informing local iwi.