The Lake Hawea Community Association's invitation to Australia-based farmers Jim and Jenny Cooper to discuss the region's first large-scale dairy farm at a residents' meeting has been turned down.
Hawea Flat residents are concerned about the effect the farm operations - particularly effluent run-off - might have on bore drinking water and the environment and had been keen for a meeting to share information.
Association president Rachel Brown said yesterday while she was disappointed her invitation had been declined, she believed the community would eventually get the information for which it was asking.
Ms Brown said she was happy to still be talking with the Coopers' farm consultant, Peter Hook, and she believed the Coopers wanted to be good neighbours and had nothing to hide.
"It's just that they are still really busy with transactions at the moment. I am still talking to them and I think we will get the information out there to the public. But the most important thing for us at the moment is opening up dialogue with the Otago Regional Council to make sure they have strong measures to monitor the farm," Ms Brown said yesterday.
The Coopers have started converting the 2322ha Camp Hill Station to dairying but the first dairy stock are not expected to arrive until next winter. In the meantime, the property is still being grazed by sheep.
Non-notified district council consents were granted recently for irrigation infrastructure and two milking sheds. Regional council consents have not been required because effluent disposal is a permitted activity.
However, the ORC has put in place an environmental monitoring regime at Hawea Flat this month that, over time, should reveal how dairying and other intensive land uses affect the ground water.
Ms Brown said people from outside the district had mentioned how surprised they were the conversion could go ahead without being notified to the public.
The association would begin to explore how it could influence the democratic process and change regional council plans so future conversions were notified, she said.
She acknowledged some farmers felt their operations were no-one else's business but their own, but said Hawea residents would have liked the conversion to have been notified so they could learn more about the environmental impacts it might have. "If they [the public] don't want dairying to spread and have more and more dairy farms, the answer is to get on top of the Otago Regional Council," she said.
The Central Otago News reported on Thursday there is wider support for a public meeting.
Wanaka Community Board chairman Lyal Cocks, district councillor Jude Battson, of Lake Hawea, Mt Aspiring Station owner John Aspinall, and Green Party candidate and Hawea Flat resident Sue Coutts are among those who believe a meeting would be useful.
Crs Cocks and Battson said it was possible the board might organise a meeting instead.
Mr Aspinall raised the topic of dairying at a recent economic forum in Wanaka.
He told the Central Otago News he doubted dairying would carry the same environmental risks at Hawea Flat as in other parts of the country because of the area's low rainfall and different soil structure.
"However, I believe it is important to set people's minds at rest. While there will always be people who are anti-dairying and don't want to hear the facts, a public meeting is a good idea," Mr Aspinall said.
- Additional reporting by Cris Johnston, Central Otago News.
