Council, camp have 40 days to agree

The chequered history of the Kakanui camping ground may be coming to an end.

An interim decision by the Environment Court indicates it may not issue a resource consent to legalise the facility, effectively closing it.

The camp was established and is operated by Allan and Chris Jones on a 1.22ha site on the south side of the Kakanui River, next to Waianakarua Rd.

Mr and Mrs Jones have, for more than a decade, battled the Waitaki District Council over whether the camping ground was legal or needed resource consents.

The latest round was in the Environment Court last month when Mr and Mrs Jones and four other Kakanui people appealed a decision by the council to grant resource consent for the camping ground, cabins, 30 powered and unpowered sites, and landscaping.

The court has now released an interim decision in which it indicates it "appears inevitable" resource consent for the camping ground cannot be issued unless Mr and Mrs Jones and the council can reach an agreement to build new access to the camping ground.

The court has given them 40 working days to negotiate.

Access to the camp is one of the main issues. A condition of the resource consent granted by the council in 2006 was traffic entry should be made from River Rd and not Waianakarua Rd. It insisted Mr Jones pay for the widening of River Rd and an upgrade of the River Rd-Harbour Tce intersection.

He appealed that and, after mediation, the council agreed the financial burden on Mr Jones was significant and the deficiencies at the intersection were historic.

The Environment Court said the need to upgrade the intersection was a direct effect of additional traffic on River Rd generated by the camping ground. The camping ground should not proceed until the intersection was upgraded.

"In the light of the council's refusal to commit to an intersection upgrade and Mr Jones' advised inability to fund such an upgrade on an economically viable basis, it appears we must decline consents . . ." the court said.

The court issued its interim decision to give the council and Mr Jones time to reconsider their positions.

"We appreciate such discussions may have already taken place without resolving the matter and that further discussion is futile. If that is the case, the parties will no doubt tell us," the court said.

Mr Jones, when contacted by the Otago Daily Times, said he had not seen the decision and could not comment until he had.

The council's strategy group manager, Richard Mabon, said Mr Jones and the council would need to discuss upgrading the intersection as the court had directed.

Until a final decision was made by the court, the council could make no decisions about the future of the camping ground.

(In 2005, the council served an abatement notice, which would have closed the camping ground, on Mr Jones. It was withdrawn after Mr Jones applied for resource consents.)

- david.bruce@odt.co.nz