A plan by contractor Whitestone Ltd to expand its yard at Deborah to meet the demands of its growing business has been blocked by the Environment Court.
The court has upheld an appeal by neighbour Barry Monks against a decision last year by the Waitaki District Council to grant land use resource consent for Whitestone to develop a depot on a 1.24ha site on State Highway 1 just north of its existing depot.
The court's decision means the new depot, as proposed, cannot go ahead.
Whitestone wanted to extend its existing depot at Deborah and set up a landscaping retail outlet, which would also include a property maintenance base and reticulation contracting business.
Five additional buildings would be built on the site for offices, staff amenities, plant storage, garaging, covered displays and a shop.
The site is zoned rural general, which meant the proposal did not comply.
The council, which owns Whitestone, appointed an independent commissioner, Allan Cubitt, to hear the application, which was granted in May.
However, Mr Monks was upset by the decision and appealed to the Environment Court. Judge Fred McElrea and commissioners David Kernohan and Dr Diane Menzies heard the case in November.
Yesterday, Mr Monks said the decision was as he expected.
‘‘I don't think they [the court] could have made any other decision,'' he said.
It was the first time Mr Monk had appealed to the Environment Court and he represented himself.
‘‘It's unfortunate I had to go to court, and have a quick lesson on the law, when I wouldn't have had to if the correct process had been followed [by the council],'' he said.
Whitestone's managing director, Lawrence Hardy, said yesterday that the company was reviewing the decision and contemplating what it should do. Until that was done, he could not comment further.
The decision, released yesterday, upheld Mr Monks' appeal and quashed the resource consent granted by the council.
The court said it was surprised that no expert traffic engineering evidence was called by Whitestone, nor evidence from Transit NZ when traffic matters were an issue.
However, the company's evidence also fell short in other respects, including the site plan, landscaping, earthworks, dust, noise and using a site with highclass soils for a depot, the court's decision said.
