Te Kauwhata group hope for plan accord

Te Kauwhata residents opposed to residential expansion in the village remain hopeful of resolving their grievances with council planners.

About 60 residents, under the umbrella of the Te Kauwhata Action Group, appealed the Waikato District Council’s variation 13 of the Te Kauwhata Structure Plan in the Environment Court.

Under the plan, the council intends to intensify development in the west of Te Kauwhata to accommodate predicted population growth.

The action group said the structure plan was based on artificial numbers and risked splitting Te Kauwhata into two villages.

But in an interim decision released this week, the Environment Court said the structure plan allowed for a consolidation of the village to the west.

‘‘Fundamentally we consider that the appellants have misunderstood the purpose of the variation. This is to provide for the expansion of the Te Kauwhata village in a managed way, particularly to provide for the population anticipated.’’

Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said the interim ruling vindicated the council’s position.

‘‘Looking out 50 years or more can be challenging but our councillors and staff have done a significant amount of excel- lent work to plan for expected growth in this town.’’

But action group secretary John Cunningham said the council still needed to come up with a plan acceptable to residents.

‘‘We note that WDC is required to produce a plan within 30 days that is acceptable to the parties. We are prepared to work with council on that plan and clearly it would be preferable to be involved at the early stages rather than presenting the TK community with another fait accompli. We . . . hope for a better consultation than we have experienced in the past from the council.’’

The legal challenge is expected to cost action group members about $30,000.

Council stakeholder relations general manager Jo Ireland said the council had yet to collate its legal expenses. The council had not discussed whether to pursue costs from the action group.

Mr Cunningham said he was hopeful of getting a positive outcome.

‘‘We want to work with our council but at the moment we feel like we’ve been bludgeoned by the council. We’ll have to see how much consultation comes out of all this. It certainly hasn’t been the council’s approach to date. It’s been let’s bash the locals and get our own way.’’