Dam bill of ‘serious concern’

The Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc has outlined ‘‘serious concern’’ about a local bill designed to enable construction of the proposed Waimea dam, near Nelson.

On September 19, the Tasman District Council (Waimea Water Augmentation Scheme) Bill passed its first reading in Parliament. It was referred to the governance and administration committee, which accepted submissions until midnight on Friday.

The bill seeks to gain an inundation easement over 9.67 hectares of conservation land in the Mt Richmond State Forest Park, needed for the reservoir of the proposed dam. It also aims to vest in the council 1.35ha of Crown riverbed in the Lee Valley on which the dam will be built.

In a written submission to the select committee, which it also released to Stuff, Forest & Bird says the use of a local bill ‘‘is misguided in attempting to override sound conservation legislation and reduce the amount of public scrutiny that should be given to this activity on public conservation land’’.

Forest & Bird says it has always considered the inundation to be ‘‘problematic and in conflict with conservation legislation’’.

National, Labour, NZ First and Act MPs supported the bill at its first reading while the Greens opposed it.

The bill, which is being sponsored by Nelson MP Dr Nick Smith, is due to be reported back to Parliament on November 7.