Residents call for huge solar farm consent to be publicly notified

North Canterbury residents have called on their regional council to allow feedback on a proposed solar farm in their community.

It comes nearly two months after the Hurunui District Council publicly notified a land use consent application for the same project.

The Waipara Valley Community Collective presented a 700-signature petition to Environment Canterbury at a council meeting on Wednesday, August 27.

The petition calls for Ecan to publicly notify a consent application from Far North Solar Farm Ltd. The application outlines the firm's desire to build a 180ha solar farm near Waipara, north of Amberley.

Addressing ECan on Wednesday, the group’s spokesperson Elizabeth Kelsey questioned why the two councils had not undertaken a joint consenting process.

‘‘Hearing both consents together would have been a good use of public resources.’’

ECan chairperson Craig Pauling has said one of the flaws with the present regional council model was the overlapping consenting model between local and regional councils.

‘‘A waste management plant can be consented from a landuse perspective without making it public and then the first the regional council knows about it might be when they come to the regional council for an air discharge consent,’’  he said recently.

He said Canterbury’s councils were getting better at joint consenting, but it was not the most efficient model.

The Hurunui District Council has received 158 submissions, with 125 opposed to the proposed solar farm.

‘‘I am aware ECan is seeking national guidance and that is important, but in the absence of that guidance, notification is really important,’’ Ms Kelsey said in support of the petition.

‘‘It is the mechanism where ECan can learn more about the application, which may not be apparent in the application documents.’’

Ms Kelsey said historically the area had been on a pounamu greenstone trail and had significant ecological and geological values, while moa bones had also been found in the area.

‘‘No-one I have spoken to is against solar power... but just because it is renewable doesn’t mean it is a good thing.’’

Far North Solar Famr Ltd has applied to ECan for consents for earthworks and to discharge to land and water.

At its peak, the farm's 250,000 panels would generate up to 144 megawatts, enough to power an estimated 30,000 homes.

A Hurunui District Council staff report noted ‘‘the adverse effects of the application’’ to the landscape and the visual effects are more than minor.

Construction of the solar farm is expected to take around two years.

The Hurunui District Council has appointed independent commissioners Dean Chrystal and Shannon Bray to hear and decide the resource consent application.

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.