Bat issues still block to road link project

A hearing into the proposed Southern Links road network project has broad agreement, but bat protection remains a sticking point. Elton Smallman reports. It was important the proposed project was future-proofed.

Pest-control measures to protect the city’s long-tailed bats have been labelled unreasonable as the inquiry into a $500 million roading project resumed.

The hearing into the Hamilton Southern Links project began in July and was adjourned to allow time for the applicants – New Zealand Transport Agency and Hamilton City Council – to enter discussions with Waipa and Waikato Districts and Waikato Regional Council.

Yesterday the panel of four independent commissioners heard there was broad agreement on a number of conditions around the 32-kilometre Southern Links project but a handful of sticking points remained.

A second report prepared for Hamilton City, Waipa District and Waikato District councils called for a 20-year pestcontrol programme to manage the bats’ predators over at least 74 hectares of Hamilton’s gully system in the southern city fringe.

It aimed to compensate for the removal of 14.8ha of long-tailed bat habitat, but Aecom planning expert Grant Eccles told the panel the programme was unworkable. Eccles said the condition was ‘‘unreasonable, impracticable and verging on impossible to comply with’’ and private property owners would have to agree to the management recommendations on their land.

He said the council owned reserve land within the designated area in the city’s south but it was only a small parcel and not enough to comply with the proposed conditions.

Principal ecologist with planning consultants Opus International, John Turner, said targeted pest control would be preferable.

Proposed conditions called for a rigid bat monitoring system three years before construction of the road, during construction and for five years after completion.

Turner said the proposal placed an ‘‘unreasonable and disproportionate burden’’ on the NZTA and city council to do the work of the Department of Conservation.

The application for designation called for a 20-year lapse period and counsel for the NZTA Suzanne Janissen said it remained a key issue and would allow the project to be built in stages and give it certainty.

Neither NZTA nor Hamilton City Council set aside funds for the project in their 10-year Plans but it was important the proposed project was future-proofed.

The network includes 21km of state highway and 11km of urban arterial roads in Hamilton’s Peacocke area.

The project aimed to connect the region to the south of Hamilton and proposed three new river crossings and was the result of 50 years of investigation and planning.

It would connect State Highway 1 from Kahikatea Dr in Hamilton to Tamahere and the Waikato Expressway in the south; and SH3 from Hamilton International Airport to central and east Hamilton.

The four commissioners on the board of inquiry were David Hill, Dr Phil Mitchell, Shane Solomon and the chairman was Doug Arcus.