Latest news with #AllanBirchfield
Scoop
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Revamped Agreement Spells Out Iwi Role In Resource Consenting
West Coast Regional Councillors are voting today on an updated version of their historic agreement with iwi to work together for the benefit of the Coast. The Mana Whakahono a Rohe document is recognised under the Resource Management Act and spells out how the council will collaborate with the region's two rūnanga, Ngati Waewae and Makaawhio on issues including wastewater, drinking water, planning and flood protection. The revised version clarifies and strengthens the role of manawhenua in resource consenting and has drawn objections from the council's former chair Cr Allan Birchfield who first signed the document in 2020. Cr Birchfield has argued that the intention was to consult the rūnanga on matters important to them, rather than require their approval for every resource consent, which he claims is happening now. The original agreement says the council will process resource consents in a way that appropriately recognises the effects of activities on Poutini Ngāi Tahu. The revised clause goes further. 'The parties agree that to ensure timely, efficient and cost-effective resource consent processing, applicants and planners must both recognise and provide for the rights, interests and values of Poutini Ngāi Tahu as manawhenua.' That is consistent with the principles of the Resource Management Act (RMA), the draft says. 'As such, the council will treat Poutini Ngāi Tahu as an affected party for all applications for resource consent where there is potential for adverse cultural effects, unless it is demonstrated otherwise.' A new clause, added to the agreement, states that the Council will strongly encourage consent applicants to consult the rūnanga early on, through their environmental entities, Poutini Environmental or Pokeka Poutini Ngāi Tahu. 'Where consultation has not occurred, and a written approval letter has not been supplied, the Council will need to consider limited notification ... to Poutini Ngāi Tahu which can result in increased processing time and costs for applicants." The draft also spells out how the Council will support monitoring by manawhenua. 'Achieving a culturally relevant monitoring programme will require dedicated and consistent resourcing for Pokeka Poutini Ngāi Tahu Limited ... a specific funding agreement dedicated to environmental cultural monitoring will be needed before this programme can commence." WCRC chief executive Darryl Lew said last month the agreement and its protocol document, Paetae Kotahitanga ki Te Tai Poutini, were still fit for purpose and needed only minor changes. Because the council had been through some turbulent times with changes of leadership, key pieces of work had not been done including its practical implementation and the five year review was the opportunity to do that, he said. Cr Birchfield has argued that the agreement effectively gives iwi a sign-off right that was not intended by the RMA and has added to the delays and costs of obtaining resource consents on the West Coast. In a supplied statement he said the changes were far from minor. 'The role of Ngāi Tahu is strengthened to having, effectively, the same functions and powers as local government in certain areas.' However, Ngāi Tahu was not accountable to West Coasters in the same way as local government was, Mr Birchfield said. A particular issue in the agreement was the use of the term, "joint planning' which elevated Ngāi Tahu to the same level as the council, Mr Birchfield said. The changed proposal moved the region towards co-governance, and if Ngāi Tahu were to have a greater role in regional government, West Coast electors should be consulted on the changes by way of a referendum, Cr Birchfield said. The Regional Council says the changed wording in the agreement confers no additional powers on Ngāi Tahu but clarifies the existing rights of manawhenua under the RMA and the Treaty of Waitangi, and operational processes for council staff. During a meeting in May, Ngāti Waewae representative Francois Tumahai defended the iwi's current role in resource consenting. Tumahai said the rūnanga were required to give feedback on consent conditions. 'The decision is still made by the consents team on council. We don't make a decision on it,' The new document with the changes outlined, is available on the WCRC website in the agenda for today's council meeting. The Council this morning agreed to hold some clauses over for further advice and clarity, and the meeting continues this afternoon.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Revamped deal spells out iwi role in resource consenting
The revised version clarifies and strengthens the role of manawhenua in resource consenting and has drawn objections from the council's former chair Cr Allan Birchfield who first signed the document in 2020. Cr Birchfield has argued that the intention was to consult the rūnanga on matters important to them, rather than require their approval for every resource consent, which he claims is happening now. The original agreement says the council will process resource consents in a way that appropriately recognises the effects of activities on Poutini Ngāi Tahu. The revised clause goes further. 'The parties agree that to ensure timely, efficient and cost-effective resource consent processing, applicants and planners must both recognise and provide for the rights, interests and values of Poutini Ngāi Tahu as manawhenua.' That is consistent with the principles of the Resource Management Act (RMA), the draft says. 'As such, the council will treat Poutini Ngāi Tahu as an affected party for all applications for resource consent where there is potential for adverse cultural effects, unless it is demonstrated otherwise.' A new clause, added to the agreement, states that the Council will strongly encourage consent applicants to consult the rūnanga early on, through their environmental entities, Poutini Environmental or Pokeka Poutini Ngāi Tahu. 'Where consultation has not occurred, and a written approval letter has not been supplied, the Council will need to consider limited notification ... to Poutini Ngāi Tahu which can result in increased processing time and costs for applicants." The draft also spells out how the Council will support monitoring by manawhenua. 'Achieving a culturally relevant monitoring programme will require dedicated and consistent resourcing for Pokeka Poutini Ngāi Tahu Limited ... a specific funding agreement dedicated to environmental cultural monitoring will be needed before this programme can commence." WCRC chief executive Darryl Lew said last month the agreement and its protocol document, Paetae Kotahitanga ki Te Tai Poutini, were still fit for purpose and needed only minor changes. Because the council had been through some turbulent times with changes of leadership, key pieces of work had not been done including its practical implementation and the five year review was the opportunity to do that, he said. Cr Birchfield has argued that the agreement effectively gives iwi a sign-off right that was not intended by the RMA and has added to the delays and costs of obtaining resource consents on the West Coast. In a supplied statement he said the changes were far from minor. 'The role of Ngāi Tahu is strengthened to having, effectively, the same functions and powers as local government in certain areas.' However, Ngāi Tahu was not accountable to West Coasters in the same way as local government was, Mr Birchfield said. A particular issue in the agreement was the use of the term, "joint planning' which elevated Ngāi Tahu to the same level as the council, Mr Birchfield said. The changed proposal moved the region towards co-governance, and if Ngāi Tahu were to have a greater role in regional government, West Coast electors should be consulted on the changes by way of a referendum, Cr Birchfield said. The Regional Council says the changed wording in the agreement confers no additional powers on Ngāi Tahu but clarifies the existing rights of manawhenua under the RMA and the Treaty of Waitangi, and operational processes for council staff. During a meeting in May, Ngāti Waewae representative Francois Tumahai defended the iwi's current role in resource consenting. [ Tumahai said the rūnanga were required to give feedback on consent conditions. 'The decision is still made by the consents team on council. We don't make a decision on it,' The new document with the changes outlined, is available on the WCRC website in the agenda for today's council meeting. The Council this morning agreed to hold some clauses over for further advice and clarity, and the meeting continues this afternoon. - By Lois Williams, Local Democracy Reporter
RNZ News
22-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
West Coast Regional Council chief executive calls for more staff as goldmine delays bite
West Coast Regional Council chief executive Darryl Lew (L) and councillors Allan Birchfield (M) and Brett Cummings (R). Photo: LDR The West Coast Regional Council has conceded it needs to take on more staff, after a raft of complaints about the time it takes to process resource consents, including some from its own councillors. The council's former chair - and alluvial goldminer - Allan Birchfield released letters last week from a company distressed that its fledgling goldmine had been shut down, and its seven workers and capital put at risk, after waiting 17 months for a consent. Council resource management committee chair Brett Cummings - also a veteran goldminer - has set out his concerns in a letter to West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) chief executive Darryl Lew, with a long list of questions about how consents are being dealt with. Both councillors have criticised the council's practice of hiring North Island consultancy firms to process goldmine consents, alleging the planners involved are unfamiliar with the industry, ask for irrelevant information and delay the process by asking what Cummings has called "stupid " questions. In his case, the wait has been seven months for what should have been a straightforward consent on Ngai Tahu forestry land, which the iwi had approved, Cummings said. In reply to the councillor's questions, Lew said the council had received 56 resource consent applications this year, and half of them had been outsourced to consultants in Buller, Greymouth and New Plymouth. Of those 28, two had been approved, 11 were sent back to the applicants because they were "incomplete" and the rest were still being processed, Lew said. "Similar to the WOF process for a car, when deficient applications are returned, applicants are informed of areas that are required to be enhanced and they can then resubmit the applications for processing." Of the remaining 28 being dealt with by council staff, 10 had been approved, one had been sent back for more information within the statutory time limit and 12 had been returned to sender as "incomplete". The rest were still being processed, Lew said. The council's use of consultants has increased, compared to the same period last year, the figures show. Between January and April 2024 , the council received 57 resource consent applications - one was publicly notified, 51 were processed in house and only six outsourced to a consultant. There was little difference in the fees charged to applicants - council staff were charged out at $185 an hour and consultants' hourly rates ranged from $140-192 - all plus GST. There had been only two council consents staff employed in January this year, joined by a trainee in February, and their availability had been reduced by sick leave, annual leave and training time, Lew said. Last year, there had been three officers on the job. "To date, I haven't increased the consents team, however I do believe now is the time. More consents are requiring technical input and we are having more going to hearings, so this is impacting on resourcing, not to mention future demands like the fast track projects." The council would prefer to use its own staff who had local knowledge, Lew said. But it would be impossible to do away entirely with consultants because the volume of consent applications and workload was unpredictable. Consents for alluvial goldmining were much more complex than they were in the early days of the RMA in the 1990s, the chief executive noted. They now had to be assessed against a lengthy list of national policy statements and environmental standards, including Freshwater Management, Indigenous Biodiversity, drinking water, air quality, greenhouse gases, and management of contaminants in soil to protect human health. "We await the government changes to these national instruments and the replacement RMA to see if this becomes simpler ... I agree it would be ideal to have consents and application forms as simple as possible. It is a challenge to have them reflect the law and remain simple." In the meantime, the WCRC consents team was working on new application templates and more guidance for alluvial goldminers, and would bring a paper on this to Council on July or August, Lew said. The council had complicated the process by trying to impose static conditions intended for subdivisions and septic tanks on alluvial mines, Cummings said. "An alluvial site evolves as you work your way through it, so you'll start off with your pumps and your pond, and even your access tracks in one place, and as you move along, you move them along as well, but they're demanding maps and trying to include these all things as fixed conditions on the consent. " Until about a year ago, those details were set out for the council in a separate mine work-programme, which was updated, as the site progressed, Cummings said. "The compliance staff would have that and refer to it, when they did their inspection visits. They didn't try to cram everything into the consent itself - that makes no sense, when you're dealing with a dynamic system. "If you move your pond, you're technically in breach." Hiring more consents staff could help the situation, as long as basic issues were addressed, Cummings said. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Otago Daily Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Councillor denies privacy breach
The West Coast Regional Council is alleging a privacy breach involving its former chairman after correspondence from a mining company ended up in the media. However, Cr Allan Birchfield, who openly admits passing the information on, denies there was any breach. If the council wanted to take issue with it — "bring it on". The council released a statement this week, and although it did not directly refer to Cr Birchfield, it took issue with the release of the correspondence from Chinese-owned Westcoast Mining Ltd shared with "some councillors". The correspondence complained about a two-year delay in their resource consent application, and being ordered by regional council staff to shut down mining operations in the meantime. Council chairman Peter Haddock said in a statement Westcoast Mining Ltd had "confirmed it did not share" its correspondence to the council with anyone else. "Nor did it give permission for any of its information to be shared," Cr Haddock said. Rather, the letter had been shared "confidentially" with some councillors. "It's very disappointing privacy between [the] council and the company has been breached ... We will be taking measures to deal with this transgression." Cr Birchfield said yesterday he took "full credit" for passing on the information because it concerned council activities in the public domain. "They're wrong. That letter was written to all the councillors, and I take full credit for releasing it," he said. "The public should know the mining community do know what is going on [with the council]." He said the correspondence would be otherwise discoverable anyway through the Local Government and Official Information and Meetings Act. The allegations outlined by Westcoast Mining were "symptomatic" of wide disquiet in the West Coast community about the changing council approach to consenting and compliance, Cr Birchfield said. It not only reflected the growing concern within the West Coast mining fraternity but from other industry sectors seeking routine consents and now being presented with new hurdles. Cr Birchfield said the information being sought officially now often reflected no West Coast mining knowledge or local knowledge at all. "I'm being barraged with complaints from the industry and I'm sick of it. "I released that letter because it's not private," Cr Birchfield said. Cr Brett Cummings, who chairs the Resource Management Committee, was surprised at the council stance but preferred not to comment publicly. He was already awaiting further information on "concerns with the consenting process" he had raised. Cr Peter Ewen, who has regularly sparred with Cr Birchfield, described the release of the correspondence as "grandstanding" and "attention seeking". He said Cr Birchfield knew "full well" the rules about information disclosure. Given it was apparently yet to be tabled at the council meeting he was "jumping the gun". "I think attention-seeking councillors are doing it all the time — that's the problem," Cr Ewen said. "There's a right and a wrong way to do it. He knows that ... there's an election coming." Cr Ewen said there was also some irony in that Cr Birchfield, a gold miner, had not always declared his own mining activities at the council table. "He can't even follow the rules himself." Cr Haddock said Westcoast Mining Ltd had been mining without a resource consent when it was shut down on May 31. "It was clear the resource consent was yet to be issued as a company representative visited the WCRC office on May 16 ... to request alterations to their [application]. "We will not be commenting further while the matter is under investigation," Cr Haddock said. — Greymouth Star
RNZ News
29-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Trump tariffs critique sparks councillor to jump to US President's defence
West Coast Regional Councillor Allan Birchfield expressed his support for the United States and President Donald Trump in a recent meeting. Photo: LDR If Donald Trump ever found himself on the West Coast, he could count on at least one fan to roll out the regional council welcome mat. Goldmining councillor Allan Birchfield sprang to the defence of the US President at this month's corporate services meeting, after the council's treasury advisor critiqued Trump's tariff policies and their chaotic impact on financial markets. Bancorp corporate manager Miles O'Connor was presenting the firm's quarterly report on the West Coast Regional Council's (WCRC) $14 million investment fund, and the global trends likely to affect interest rates - all backed up with graphs, facts and figures. The US was moving away from acting in the world's interest towards an America-centric approach, he noted. Traditionally 60 percent of the world's capital had gone to the US because it was seen as a safe haven in uncertain times, O'Connor said. But the volatility in the equity and bond markets that followed Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs had not been seen since the stock market crash of 1987, and had caused a flight of capital out of the US and into European, Asian, and Japanese markets. Predicting profits and interest rates had become so difficult that some banks and major companies had given up forecasting completely, O'Connor said. The US president had also challenged the independence of the Federal Reserve by calling on its governor to cut interest rates. "Now that's just not done normally by political leaders. You don't see our Reserve Bank being told by the Prime Minister you must drop rates. "It's inherent in monetary policy that the central bank is independent of political influence." Trump had since reduced the 145 percent on Chinese goods to 30 percent, and the markets had settled down somewhat, but some tariffs would be permanent and New Zealand exports would be affected, O'Connor said. A recent Federal Reserve survey showed the tariffs were not working as hoped in the US domestic market: businesses were passing on price hikes to customers which was inflationary and hardly any overseas companies were relocating to the US. "My view is (Trump) probably won't go back to what he was doing; he probably didn't expect the reaction he got." Two Trump policies that did make sense were US defence spending and ending "unfettered" immigration, O'Connor said. "I'm not totally opposed to what he (Trump) does - some of the other policies I am slightly dubious about." US President Donald Trump threatened China with a 145 percent trade tariff before reducing it to 30 percent. Photo: ALON SKUY / AFP Councillor Birchfield, whose goldmine office sports a large photo of Trump, seized his opening. "I'm pleased you're starting to give Donald a bit of credit - you go on with the usual rhetoric, anti-Donald Trump. "You say the US only does stuff in its own interest - you need to think about the US Navy - it guarantees freedom of trade - even for China [and] it's a huge cost on the US taxpayer." The US had recently "sorted out" the (Yemen rebel group) Houthis who had been disrupting world trade, Birchfield said. "Nobody else is gonna do that so you do need to start recognising the value of the US. And I see you saying it could impact New Zealand exports. "You don't really know. Lift your game," Birchfield instructed the Bancorp manager. O'Connor agreed the US did protect world trade. "But [the tariffs] are having an effect on our exports - we know that from some of our clients who've had orders cancelled." Birchfield continued, saying Trump had a huge problem of debt and a trade imbalance with China. "There's gonna be a bit of a shake down but at the end of the day he had to sort that out." O'Connor said the reason for the trade imbalance was that the US just could not match China's manufacturing capabilities. Council chairperson Peter Haddock put an end to the exchange, saying "We've had a shot across the bows by the US". "We have to recognise the volatility in the world... the best we can get out of it is lower interest rates." O'Connor said the official cash rate was likely to drop to three percent this year or possibly lower by November. The council had longer term cover in place for its investments and would not need to make any changes until next year, he said. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
