Concerns remain in Kurow that an unconsented eyesore will remain in place if the company that installed the controversial section of irrigation pipeline runs out of money before it is made to remedy the situation.
Bobbing Creek Vineyard owner Eve Skerrett - who organised a well-attended September meeting at the Kurow Memorial Hall to address concerns the pipeline alongside State Highway 83 was spoiling views in the area - said yesterday there was a request at that meeting for the Kurow-Duntroon Irrigation Company behind the $45 million irrigation upgrade through the Waitaki Valley to "put up a bond''.
However, the suggestion was not acted on.
"I think what they'll do is argue that they haven't got the money to put it right,'' she said. "I don't know what we do from there.
"I do feel like we're going to run into trouble with it.''
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher, in a report to be tabled at the first Waitaki District Council meeting of the triennium this week, notes the council's regulatory staff had met the irrigation company "to get to the bottom of the errors'' which led to the new pipe being installed above ground along the section of the highway where it adjoins the Waitaki River and says it had arrived at "the only workable compromise''.
"If the council enforces the resource consent conditions immediately and orders the pipe to be reinstalled immediately, then the farmers waiting for irrigation water will get none this season, seriously affecting the viability of their farms, and the jobs of their staff.
"If the council does not enforce the consent conditions, then the community is detrimentally affected,'' he writes.
The council ordered the company to proceed with "the planning work'' to get the pipeline properly installed below the road in the scenic area "and to be prepared to get work under way as soon as the irrigation season is completed''.
"The work is to be completed by September,'' Mr Kircher said.
The company is replacing about 44km of ageing open canal with 37km of piped irrigation infrastructure.
After the council publicised issuing a second abatement notice to the company last week, Kurow-Duntroon Irrigation Company chairman Geoff Keeling said the company was working towards a solution.
At the September meeting in Kurow, council chief executive Fergus Power was asked whether the council would be issuing a retrospective consent for the pipeline.
"No, not in this case, no,'' Mr Power said.
