ECan chairman steps aside as farm investigation launched
The top elected official at Environment Canterbury (ECan) has stepped aside ahead of an investigation into matters involving a South Canterbury farm on which he claimed to be “operating illegally”.
Peter Scott, a mixed-crop farmer, made the claim on a radio show last month. He later walked back the comments, and ECan said it had “already followed up on” the matter.
Further inquiries by The Press, however, found that Scott had sold the farm over a year earlier, and was securing the consents on behalf of the new owner – a prominent South Canterbury company with business before the council.
When asked about the sale earlier this week, Scott said he was awaiting “a whole lot of money”. After questions were put to ECan yesterday, it confirmed that Scott would step aside while an independent investigation was carried out.
The saga began on April 3, when Scott – who has been on the regional council since 2016, and was elected chairperson in 2022 – told broadcaster Heather du Plessis-Allan he was sympathetic to farmers facing resource consent delays.
He volunteered his own difficulties in getting consent from his council, which had spanned six years: “What I’m doing is I’m carrying on, and I’m ignoring the fact that I haven’t got [resource consent]... so I’m actually operating illegally, and I’m the chairman of Environment Canterbury.”
Although his comments suggested he was still farming, property records show that Scott sold the land in March last year to Rooney Farms, owned by prominent businessman Gary Rooney.
The sale price was not disclosed. The land was valued at $1.76 million.
This week, the Rooney Group – which includes Rooney Farms – submitted on ECan’s proposed long-term plan (LTP). In a public hearing, company representative Nathan Hole broadly criticised ECan, urging it to drop proposed increases to gravel extraction fees.
Scott did not leave the table, and did not report a conflict of interest. Later that day, he reported a conflict after a submission by Opuha Water, of which he used to be the chief executive and is a current shareholder. At least one other councillor during the hearings has noted a conflict of interest.
It has further complicated an already convoluted story involving an environmental regulator, its top elected official, and a Government agency.
It centres on a small, dog-leg-shaped strip of land abutting the Ōpihi River, which split part of the farm that Scott owned until last year.
In 2018, Scott applied to vary an existing water consent, which would allow him to move his irrigation rights to another part of the farm. He also applied for a land use consent required by a plan change.
ECan found that, unbeknown to Scott, part of the farm appeared to be Crown land.
“I think it was probably my fault that I didn’t recognise it,” Scott said earlier this week.
“I’m not one of those ‘I’ll clean out the corners’ sort of people, so I got caught in that.”
Scott continued to farm the land, despite uncertainty about its ownership and his lack of resource consent.
Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which manages a vast amount of Crown land, has been inquiring into the land’s origins, which appears to be the source of the lengthy delay.
Scott has since applied for a “licence to occupy” the Linz land – essentially acknowledging that it is Crown-owned.
Linz declined to comment on the specific case, but said such processes could be “complex and lengthy”, and that some landowners can continue to use Crown land on a “case-by-case basis”.
Several months after Scott’s farm was sold to Rooney Farms, Rooney Earthmoving applied for resource consent to extract gravel from the Ōpihi River near the farm.
Photos this week showed vast amounts of gravel being stored on part of the farm Scott previously owned. A Rooney-branded excavator could also be seen on the property.
During the Rooney Group’s public submission on Thursday, Hole criticised ECan for delays in processing resource consents. As an example, he cited the Ōpihi River gravel consent.
The Rooney Group did not return a request for comment.
Rules about conflicts of interest by elected officials are vague and often open to interpretation.
ECan’s code of conduct says councillors “will not participate in any council discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a pecuniary interest, other than an interest in common with the general public”.
For non-pecuniary interests, councillors are advised to ask themselves: “Is there a real danger of bias on the part of the member of the decision-making body, in the sense that he or she might unfairly regard with favour (or disfavour) the case of a party to the issue under consideration?”
It is unclear whether they apply in this case.
The hearings did not involve any decisions, but will inform future decisions about the LTP. Scott did not enter any discussions on the Rooney Group’s submission, but nor did he declare an interest.
Dr Andy Asquith, a fellow at the Sydney University of Technology Centre for Local Government, said that if a public office holder stood to benefit from a decision they were involved in, “there’s clearly a conflict” and they should recuse themselves, “otherwise it sours whatever's going on.”
Even the perception of self-interest or of not adhering to the rules could fuel dissatisfaction with local government, he said, entrenching a “one rule for them, and one for us” sentiment.
He said a uniform governance structure for all New Zealand councils – as was being done in the Australian state of Victoria – was “long overdue”, and would go some way towards consistency.
Until then, he said, elected officials should be proactive about declaring possible conflicts.
“It's not just a case of doing it, it's being seen to be doing it as well.”
Scott was first elected to ECan in 2016, representing the South Canterbury ward. He was formerly a chief executive of Opuha Water, and a board member of Horticulture New Zealand and Irrigation New Zealand.
He became ECan’s deputy chairperson in 2018. The following year, he was re-elected deputy chairperson, but only after a tiebreak in which his name was pulled from a reusable coffee cup.
He was elected chairperson in 2022 – again, after a tiebreak, in which his name was pulled from a tin.
Current deputy chairperson Craig Pauling will be acting chairperson while the investigation is done, which could take “a number of weeks”.
ECan declined to make further comment, citing the investigation.