Land use consents for a large-scale dairy conversion in the south Catlins have been approved by the Southland District Council.
South Coast Dairy Ltd has been given the green light for gravel construction and building construction on its planned dairy conversion at Curio Bay.
Its application attracted more than 100 submissions, mostly against the move.
The consents allow the company to extract 9000cu m of gravel and to operate a dairy shed and six-bay implement shed on the coastal resource area.
Consents were issued with 27 conditions, which include the company having to regularly monitor its compliance and carrying out landscaping to mitigate the visual effects of the work.
District council resource management manager Bruce Halligan said councillors at the two-day hearing in Invercargill on April 1 and 2 considered very closely the information from both applicant and the strong environmental concerns of submitters.
Most submissions were worried about the potential effects of the discharge of dairy effluent on the environment.
"The committee noted that . . . visual effects would be mitigated by the removal of several existing buildings, so therefore, the extent of built structures in the area would not be significantly greater."
Environment Southland is yet to release its decision on water and discharge consents sought by the company.
