Judicial review - adjournment declined

The High Court has dismissed an application by Environment Bay of Plenty (EBOP) to adjourn the hearing of the judicial review of the Regional Council’s decision to relocate head office from Whakatane to Tauranga.

Justice Duffy dismissed the application to move the hearing from March to August 2008, saying the only reason advanced for the adjournment was the unavailability of EBOP’s Senior Counsel, despite the fact that all parties wanted the hearing to proceed in March as scheduled by the Court.

She said the hearing was a straightforward review and that there are a number of other skilled and competent Senior Counsel who could represent the Regional Council in the proceedings.

Justice Duffy noted there is always a danger that as time passes a decision under challenge becomes entrenched through the passage of time.

She said even though the Regional Council has given assurances that it would not rely on delay as a ground for denying the District Council discretionary relief; should the District Council succeed in its judicial review it is always better for challenges to the exercise of statutory power to be dealt with promptly.

The Regional Council had applied to the High Court to have the matter adjourned to August this year. Opposing the application Whakatane District Council argued that delaying the hearing could result in the decision under challenge being implemented in a de facto way.

Since instigating the Judicial Review, the Whakatane District Council has been concentrating on preparation of evidence and preparing for the March hearing.

On 21 June 2007 EBOP resolved to move its headquarters from Whakatane to Tauranga. The decision confirmed an earlier EBOP recommendation to amend its Ten Year Plan to enable the headquarters relocation to proceed. Despite overwhelming opposition, EBOP formally adopted the proposed amendment to the plan, which will transfer approximately 100 positions from Whakatane to Tauranga.

Whakatane District Council considers that the decision was made without any adequate social impact assessment, on the basis of flawed economic information and without compliance with the processes required by law. The combined Councils of Whakatane, Kawerau and Opotiki made a submission to EBOP opposing the move and challenging the decision making process.