Almost two years after receiving approval to build 7260sqm wintering barns near a national park, construction has yet to start.
Scott Farming, which owns an organic dairy support farm immediately west of the Manapouri-Te Anau highway about 6.5km south of Te Anau, had sought a land-use consent from the Southland District Council to construct wintering barns.
But its consent application proposal was met with 29 submissions opposing the construction.
After a legal wrangle with some central and local government organisations, independent hearings commissioner Allan Cubbitt granted Aaron and Mark Scott approval on December 9, 2022, after multiple design compromises were made.
Scott Farming spokeswoman Kymm Scott said wet weather and other commitments had forced Scott Farming Ltd to further delay construction plans.
"We were hoping to start some excavation of the site by now, but with it being so wet lately we weren’t going to start until it dried up a bit ... so, with that in mind, we may get a little bit of excavating [done on] the site before Christmas.
"Otherwise it won’t be until February/March as after Christmas we are still in our busy season with silage/baleage," she said.
The Department of Conservation, which originally opposed the consent, eventually withdrew its objections after the Scotts presented a revised plan, halving its construction from four to two barns that would be relocated further away from neighbouring properties and reoriented on another part of the farm.
When delivering his decision, Mr Cubitt said: "I must stress that this is a working rural environment and what is proposed is a reflection of the new regulatory regime affecting the rural sector.
"Structures of this size are no longer unexpected in the rural environment".
The commissioner also commented in his finding the objections from neighbours had been "overplayed" because most neighbouring homes were oriented to the north (away from the construction site) and had little or no view.
Landscaping architects for the Scotts and the council agreed plantings and constructed bunds would help to mitigate some of the visual amenity issues raised in some of the submitted objections.
- By Toni McDonald
