Residents want land demand pared back
Condemned to purgatory.
That is how Bunnythorpe resident Aaron Fox is describing the plight of private landowners likely to be trapped in the headlights of KiwiRail’s proposed freight development on the outskirts of Palmerston North.
Landowners are in the process of being notified of KiwiRail’s decision to designate 177 hectares between the airport and the village of Bunnythorpe.
Despite the recommendations of the city council and the resource management commissioners who heard the notice of requirement last year, KiwiRail is insisting on a 15-year lapse period.
It has also confirmed it will not be looking to purchase private and rural properties at the Bunnythorpe end of the site for at least five years.
Fox said that robbed landowners of control of their properties and the ability to develop them or sell them, ‘‘relegated to a role of tenants’’.
‘‘Possibly nothing will happen for 14 years.’’
KiwiRail executive general manager for property Olivia Poulsen said the regional freight hub was amajor project that would serve the central North Island’s rail freight needs for the next 100 years.
The 15-year lapse period was necessary because of the scale of the development, which would include freight forwarding and distribution centres for a range of operators.
She said the project would be staged, with the earliest priority being to relocate the existing Tremaine Ave rail yards to the city end of the site.
There was land already zoned for industrial use at that part of the area covered by the designation.
The emphasis on staging the project came as something of a surprise to Fox, who had read most of the evidence and watchedmost of last year’s hearing, and made an extensive submission in opposition.
He said the master plan for the area had been presented as an integrated, package deal.
For example, one of the elements of the plan was to shift the main trunk railway parallel to Railway Rd into the designated site, and to close Railway Rd.
It was difficult to foresee that being done in a staged fashion.
He said it appeared KiwiRail’s plans were changing, and were currently a better fit with the proposal that won $40 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for design and land purchases covering an area about one-third of the size of the current designation plan.
Poulsen described the PGF money as seed funding.
‘‘We knew the seed funding would not cover the total cost of land purchase, and we are working through funding for this as part of the business case.’’
Fox said if it was just the railyards relocation that was the immediate priority, KiwiRail should withdraw the notice of requirement and not land bank the balance of the site, so people could get on with their lives.
‘‘They seem to be steaming ahead on their own set of rails, not allowing anyone else onboard.’’
The city council earlier advised submitters the deadline for lodging an appeal against KiwiRail’s decision was May 9.
Its website now states that the indicative date for the appeals period to begin is May 26.
‘‘They seem to be steaming ahead on their own set of rails, not allowing anyone else onboard.’’
Aaron Fox