Railing issue puts council between a rock and a hard place
Monday 25 July 2011, 2:08PM
401 views
"We don’t want to do it, but we have no choice.”
That is council chief executive David Edmunds’ message to Mangonui residents opposed to a safety railing the Northland Regional Council is requiring the district council to erect along a waterfront boardwalk at Mangonui.
The council had decided not to put up a railing along the three-year-old boardwalk after residents complained it would spoil harbour views and prevent access to boats.
But a lawyer engaged by the district council has advised it to comply with a resource consent condition that requires a railing or it may face a costly Environment Court battle it could lose.
Seeking a variation of the consent would also be an expensive and possibly futile exercise, the lawyer says.
The council is reluctantly erecting a cast steel railing of a design that complies with the consent and is widely-used in waterfront areas of Auckland.
“At the end of the day, it is a community asset so feedback on the railing colour etc would be welcome.”
Mayor Wayne Brown is furious that the council is required to erect the railing.
“I am so apoplectic, I am unable to comment in a manner that is printable.”
He doesn’t see why a railing is necessary when it is not a requirement at wharves or
marinas.
“This is not about safety. It’s about compliance and heavy-handed legal pressure.”
He is disappointed that Te Kenana Marae Ranginui Trust has lobbied the regional council to enforce the resource consent when a coroner has said a safety railing isn’t necessary.
“If it’s about safety, why haven’t they run a campaign to get handrails around the rest of the harbour?”
The issue highlights inequities in the Resource Management Act’s consultation processes.
“The Act is supposed to encourage developments that meet the broadest level of support. It wasn’t set out so one person could stop anything when they feel like it.”
Councillor Monty Knight says he doesn’t understand why Kenana Marae has so much influence over something the community doesn’t want.