Urgent public meeting

I am pleased the Invercargill mayor, deputy mayor and three experienced councillors have expressed concerns about the ‘‘Block’’ development.

This might turn out to be a significant Christmas present for southern New Zealand.

The resource consent commissioners explained on page 79, clause 6.10.3 ‘‘. . . the economic viability of the project is not a resource management concern’’.

However, the Invercargill City Council has the responsibility to expend its money wisely and not to take unnecessary risks or to disadvantage existing ratepayers.

I will be surprised if the Audit Office will think the council is prudent if the demolition of the valuable heritage buildings starts before an independent feasibility study, using the significantly changed circumstances, is completed.

These matters should be addressed in an urgent public meeting and in the annual plan process.

A group of concerned submitters to the Block project chose not to appeal the granting of the resource consent for this project.

They did not want to cause an 18-month delay in the decision because of assurances given at the hearing that the ideas presented to the hearing by the two urban planners would be incorporated. This does not appear to have happened. There would be five equity partners committing $20 million each to stages one two and three, total $100m equity.

There now seem to be two equity partners at $25m each, total $50m equity. There would be bank finance of $80m confirmed before demolition started.

Now the size of the building is being reduced, there are few confirmed tenants and the capital available has been reduced significantly. Apparently the money from the Provincial Growth Fund and Community Trust South are loans. Maybe in the current circumstances the bank will not make a loan of $50m.

Good things take time and the current bulldozer tactics are not likely to produce a good outcome for Invercargill. As I have proposed from the start of this process, the city needs to have an urban plan developed by skilled urban planners that includes the whole inner city.

Then a staged redevelopment can happen with the support of the local community.

Fortunately, as a result of the contribution of Scott O’Donnell, Geoff Thomson and the Invercargill City Council, the land in the Block has been purchased.

The current proposal is different from the one discussed at the public meeting where the community was asked to support a $20m capital contribution, with an allowance of up to $10m as a contingency allowance.

Now is a good time to look more carefully at how we can attain a good, viable inner-city and reuse some of our heritage building in the Block. Bob Simpson, Invercargill

Concern about Tiwai

I am also very concerned that Tiwai may close.

If Rio Tinto decides it is not being treated fairly and this Tiwai branch is not profitable, it won’t hesitate.

This is a real possibility.

Currently it pays for transmission line costs it does not use (above what it does use) – who will then pay for that?

Manapouri was built for Tiwai’s electricity needs, and the transmission lines take this power to Tiwai.

There is only small capability for some of this power to go into the national grid, and then only for the lower part of the South Island, as I understand it.

Who will pay for new transmission lines to take all of Manapouri’s power? Electricity charges for us will go up, not down. This is the reality of the situation.

It is not just about hundreds of workers losing jobs, plus the flow-on effect of that and to other contractors etc. That is bad enough.

Lots of voices are needed to not let Tiwai close. We simply cannot afford for this to happen. Please speak up – sign the online petition. Be heard. Care.

J McIntosh, Invercargill