Commissioner resigns from panel

A commissioner appointed for the Te Tai o Poutini Plan — the new regional plan for the West Coast — has resigned before the hearing panel has formally convened.

Resource consent consultant and Te Ru¯nanga o Makaawhio member Veronica Baldwin, originally of Whataroa, was nominated by Nga¯i Tahu but has now resigned after notifying the TTPP committee of a potential conflict of interest, after she formed a view as part of the process for the ongoing formal review of Department of Conservation Stewardship land.

Ms Baldwin’s resignation was noted at the TTPP Committee late last month.

Acting TTPP project manager Rachel Vaughan told the committee one of the commissioners had stood down “because of a conflict of interest that has come to light”.

The hearing panel for the TTPP was due to convene by August but is now likely to be delayed by several months after the committee last week agreed to extend the time for further public submissions until June 30; putting the hearing timeframe back.

Mrs Vaughan said the committee would need to reconvene shortly for another formal meeting to approve a new commissioner appointment pending nominations from Nga¯i Tahu.

After the meeting, Mrs Vaughan said that while Ms Baldwin had been nominated by Poutini Nga¯i Tahu she had also been a technical adviser for the Mana whenua panel for the stewardship land review. The conflict had been declared but Ms Baldwin had subsequently decided to declare that she had already “formed an opinion” on the cultural status of some stewardship land in the region, which had implications for her TTPP role.