Energy plan process 'ill-informed criticism'

Dave Cull.
Dave Cull.
Work on a new Dunedin energy plan is generating some heat between Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull and the Otago Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Cull took to Facebook yesterday to publicly rebuke the chamber over ''ill-informed criticism'' of the energy plan process.

His move came after chamber president Peter McIntyre earlier told the Otago Daily Times he feared the energy plan could be ''overrun with green ideologies'' during public consultation.

The council planned to release a discussion document today, marking the start of public debate over what should be in the plan, before a draft plan was released for full consultation later this year.

Mr McIntyre worried the process could drag on for months, and said the majority of business owners wanted the council to ''just get on with it''.

The council should return to the city's economic development strategy, of which the chamber was a partner, and look at the plan for jobs and economic growth, he said.

''Unfortunately, if we get into an environment where no decisions are going to be made, we will be seen as a city that is not welcoming to business, and we can't afford to do that. We cannot let opportunities slip by.''

In a message posted online yesterday, Mr Cull took exception to the chamber's comments. He disputed suggestions the council was consulting too much and said the plan was part of the wider economic development strategy, which the chamber had helped develop.

''If the chamber is having second thoughts, or has forgotten, it should say so,'' he said.

Mr McIntyre told the ODT he had also received a phone call from the mayor, leading to a ''frank discussion'', yesterday.

Mr McIntyre believed Mr Cull had been ''let down by process'', as the economic development strategy steering group - of which the council and chamber were both members - had not been briefed on the energy plan.

The chamber remained supportive of sustainable economic development, but also believed the city needed to ''live to some degree in the now'' and take opportunities that presented themselves, he said.

Peter McIntyre.
Peter McIntyre.
That included securing an oil and gas base in the city, if the opportunity presented itself, but it was not yet clear what part that would play in the energy plan, he said.

Businesses also wanted to avoid the ''impost'' of subsidising alternative energy developments and other impediments to growth, he said.

''The common-sense areas of developing a sustainable city, we're totally supportive of that. We just don't want to get to the extremes.''

Mr Cull told the ODT the steering group had been kept ''aware'' of the energy plan work, but as the work was only on a discussion document ''there wouldn't have been a great deal'' to say.

The plan would tie in with national renewable energy targets, and it was important to tap into the expertise available across the city, Mr Cull said.

He did not accept consultation could be hijacked, saying he did not know ''what bogeyman is lurking there''.

Asked about oil and gas, Mr Cull said that debate was ''completely irrelevant'' to the energy plan, as neither would touch land in Dunedin.

Extraction - if it ever proceeded - was also unlikely to occur within the next 10 years, the period to be covered by the energy plan, Mr Cull said.

Whether the city could provide a site for an exploration base was a separate matter to consider as part of the wider economic development strategy, he believed.

Details of today's public meeting at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery were announced last week by Mr Cull, who said the plan would provide a 10-year ''road map'' to achieving community energy goals.

Mr Cull, in his online comments yesterday, said the plan could save the city ''millions of dollars'', create hundreds of jobs and boost energy security.

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