Temple's bid to stop planned quarry hits road block

About 135 submissions made by the Samadhi Buddhist Trust and members associated to the Samadhi...
About 135 submissions made by the Samadhi Buddhist Trust and members associated to the Samadhi Buddhist Vihara in Templeton on the proposed Roydon Quarry may not be considered due to the temple not having the correct resource consent.
A Buddhist temple’s fight to halt the planned Fulton Hogan quarry near Weedons may be stopped in its tracks.

About 135 submissions have been made by the temple’s Samadhi Buddhist Trust and its associated members over the proposed quarry.

But because the temple has no resource consent, the Selwyn District Council says it has received legal advice that any possible adverse effects on the temple from the quarry are to be disregarded.

Fulton Hogan wants to open a quarry on a 170ha piece of land at Curraghs, Dawsons, Jones and Maddisons Rds – directly opposite its temple.

The district council has only recently learned the temple does not have resource consent for the spiritual and associated activities it undertakes on the site.

As a result, the temple only applied for its resource consent on September 5, and it is currently being processed by the district council.

The temple, which is located at 358 Maddisons Rd, is on land deemed “inner rural zone” under the Selwyn District Plan.

The district council’s advice to disregard the impact the quarry may have on the temple was in the independently prepared Section 42A reports.

The reports prepared for Environment Canterbury and the district council both recommended the quarry is declined at the hearing unless changes are made.

Within the reports, Beca engineering consultant Andrew Henderson, who was contracted by the district council, said the legal advice received on the temple was “the scale of activities undertaken on the site exceeds the permitted thresholds for a spiritual activity in the Selwyn District Plan.

“The temple is operating in the absence of any consents, any adverse effects on it are to be disregarded.” But district council environmental services planning manager Jesse Burgess said the decision on whether the temple’s submissions will be considered will ultimately be made by the panel of commissioners at the hearing over the proposed quarry in November.

Mr Burgess said the district council first became aware of the temple last year when the temple asked general questions about District Plan requirements for the activities its wished to undertakeon the site.

The temple moved from Hornby to the Maddisons Rd site in 2017. Mr Burgess said when theSamadhi Buddhist Trust made a submission on the Fulton Hogan quarry, the district council’s consultant planner wanted to better understand the temple activities so it could understand the effects the quarry would have on it.

It then became evident the temple did not have the appropriate resource consent as outlined in the submissions.

Templeton Residents’ Association secretary Jolene Eagar said the community loves having the temple and the people who use it are very welcoming.

She said having a quarry across from the temple will have a significant impact and it will be a shame if the submissions frompeople associated with the templecannot be heard at the hearing.

“It doesn’t matter if their resource consent application hasn’t been completed, theystill need to have a voice because they will be affected,” Mrs Eagar said.

Western News was unable to get in touch with temple representatives for comment.