Latest news with #Fast-trackApprovalsBill
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
$100m ski area plans moving apace
An application for a $100 million-plus project that includes a 10-person gondola and extending The Remarkables ski area into the Doolans backblocks should be completed by the end of the year. NZSki, which also owns Coronet Peak and Mt Hutt, is setting aside finance for the venture, which has been selected for the government's new fast-track process. Once completed, its skiing and snowboarding terrain will likely more than double to about 900ha. The Fast-track Approvals Bill is expected to speed up the decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects considered to have strong regional or national benefits. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said detail studies for the project were being carried out with the goal to get the full application in by the end of this year. "We're on one of the schedules for the Fast-track Bill for an expansion to The Remarkables. So we are working very hard on that. Locally this area is known as the Doolans and that involves a gondola that will go all the way from the existing base facility up over a ridge and into the next basin, snowmaking, trails, and then, of course, we have to look at base building expansion because we will have more people coming up to enjoy that other valley as well." A start to construction would depend on the application process, he said. "All going well it will be the following summer when we would like to start to do the enabling work, which is starting to get the roads cut into so we can get up into over the next valley and perhaps doing some initial construction of the base station. "I would imagine a gondola of this scale, which is 2.3kmlong, would take two summers to construct." The Doolans' higher altitude to the southeast of the main runs would retain more snow for longer to provide insurance against climate change, he said. Within its existing scope, the project is expected to raise the mountain to an international ski destination, generate an estimated $350m in the regional economy and create more than 2500 new jobs. To proceed, the company needs to get a new concession agreement from the Department of Conservation, gain resource consents from the district and regional councils and carry out consultation with stakeholders including iwi. Mr Anderson said the fast-track process would provide the opportunity for all the consents to be processed simultaneously via the Environmental Protection Agency. It will be the company's largest project since $90m was spent on the last expansion at The Remarkables over the past 10 years. "This expansion will be upwards of $100m. We are owned by a local family and they are really ambitious to expand the ski areas and keep on doing what we can." Sir John Davies is the founder of NZSki under the parent company Trojan Holdings. Trojan's diversified businesses are mainly in the lower South and include the three ski areas, The Hermitage Hotel at Mount Cook Village, guided walks on the Milford and Routeburn Tracks as well as property and farming interests. He has built up the business since starting out with Whakatipu Transport, which merged into Northern Southland Transport Holdings. Mr Anderson said Sir John liked building businesses and making products better and was motivated by putting money back into them. Ongoing projects would continue at the other ski areas with a big focus on renewing or upgrading snowmaking equipment each summer. "The new technology for the new snowguns is far more efficient and produces more snow for lower cost, so that's a big push for us." Snowmaking at Mt Hutt was continuing under low humidity with temperatures at 5°C.
Scoop
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Misleading Description Of Land Sought For Controversial Dam Project Breached Standards
Press Release – Broadcasting Standards Authority The BSA has ordered local broadcaster Central FM to publish a statement summarising the decision. A radio discussion describing conservation land sought for a controversial Hawke's Bay dam project as 'only stewardship land' breached the accuracy standard, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. The Authority has upheld a complaint about an item on Central FM's Cockies Hour in which host Steve Wyn-Harris interviewed the Chair of the Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP) after the project was included on the then Fast-track Approvals Bill's list of projects released in October 2024. The BSA agreed the description of the 22 hectares of Department of Conservation (DOC) land needed for the project as 'only stewardship land', when some 93% of it has conservation park status, was a material inaccuracy which the broadcaster did not make reasonable efforts to avoid. The Authority also found the broadcaster failed to correct the error within a reasonable period after being put on notice. It has ordered local broadcaster Central FM to publish a statement summarising the decision. The land discussed in the 8 October 2024 broadcast was the subject of a deal between DOC and Hawke's Bay Regional Council for a proposed land swap which would have enabled flooding of the land for what was then known as the Ruataniwha dam project. The project stalled in 2017 after the proposed land swap was halted by a Supreme Court decision finding the Minister of Conservation had inappropriately revoked the conservation park status of relevant land. Some 20% of the more than nine-minute Cockies Hour item was devoted to the Supreme Court decision and the status and nature of the land, which is still needed for the dam to go ahead. During the interview, the land was incorrectly referred to six times by the TWSP Chair and the show's host. The BSA noted the controversial nature of the dam project within the local community and the publicity around the Supreme Court's 2017 decision. 'We would have expected the broadcaster to have some understanding of the decision, and the significance of the land's status. 'The broadcast created a misleading impression about the land needed for the project as being stewardship land and having inferior conservation values. This undermined the public interest in the story as the audience did not have the benefit of being informed about the true status of the DOC land, to enable them to reach their own informed opinions. 'We therefore concluded the broadcast had the potential to cause harm which outweighed the broadcaster's freedom of expression and is significant enough to warrant our intervention.' The full decision can be seen on the BSA website here:
Scoop
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Misleading Description Of Land Sought For Controversial Dam Project Breached Standards
Press Release – Broadcasting Standards Authority The BSA has ordered local broadcaster Central FM to publish a statement summarising the decision. A radio discussion describing conservation land sought for a controversial Hawke's Bay dam project as 'only stewardship land' breached the accuracy standard, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. The Authority has upheld a complaint about an item on Central FM's Cockies Hour in which host Steve Wyn-Harris interviewed the Chair of the Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP) after the project was included on the then Fast-track Approvals Bill's list of projects released in October 2024. The BSA agreed the description of the 22 hectares of Department of Conservation (DOC) land needed for the project as 'only stewardship land', when some 93% of it has conservation park status, was a material inaccuracy which the broadcaster did not make reasonable efforts to avoid. The Authority also found the broadcaster failed to correct the error within a reasonable period after being put on notice. It has ordered local broadcaster Central FM to publish a statement summarising the decision. The land discussed in the 8 October 2024 broadcast was the subject of a deal between DOC and Hawke's Bay Regional Council for a proposed land swap which would have enabled flooding of the land for what was then known as the Ruataniwha dam project. The project stalled in 2017 after the proposed land swap was halted by a Supreme Court decision finding the Minister of Conservation had inappropriately revoked the conservation park status of relevant land. Some 20% of the more than nine-minute Cockies Hour item was devoted to the Supreme Court decision and the status and nature of the land, which is still needed for the dam to go ahead. During the interview, the land was incorrectly referred to six times by the TWSP Chair and the show's host. The BSA noted the controversial nature of the dam project within the local community and the publicity around the Supreme Court's 2017 decision. 'We would have expected the broadcaster to have some understanding of the decision, and the significance of the land's status. 'The broadcast created a misleading impression about the land needed for the project as being stewardship land and having inferior conservation values. This undermined the public interest in the story as the audience did not have the benefit of being informed about the true status of the DOC land, to enable them to reach their own informed opinions. 'We therefore concluded the broadcast had the potential to cause harm which outweighed the broadcaster's freedom of expression and is significant enough to warrant our intervention.' The full decision can be seen on the BSA website here:
Scoop
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Misleading Description Of Land Sought For Controversial Dam Project Breached Standards
A radio discussion describing conservation land sought for a controversial Hawke's Bay dam project as 'only stewardship land' breached the accuracy standard, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. The Authority has upheld a complaint about an item on Central FM's Cockies Hour in which host Steve Wyn-Harris interviewed the Chair of the Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP) after the project was included on the then Fast-track Approvals Bill's list of projects released in October 2024. The BSA agreed the description of the 22 hectares of Department of Conservation (DOC) land needed for the project as 'only stewardship land', when some 93% of it has conservation park status, was a material inaccuracy which the broadcaster did not make reasonable efforts to avoid. The Authority also found the broadcaster failed to correct the error within a reasonable period after being put on notice. It has ordered local broadcaster Central FM to publish a statement summarising the decision. The land discussed in the 8 October 2024 broadcast was the subject of a deal between DOC and Hawke's Bay Regional Council for a proposed land swap which would have enabled flooding of the land for what was then known as the Ruataniwha dam project. The project stalled in 2017 after the proposed land swap was halted by a Supreme Court decision finding the Minister of Conservation had inappropriately revoked the conservation park status of relevant land. Some 20% of the more than nine-minute Cockies Hour item was devoted to the Supreme Court decision and the status and nature of the land, which is still needed for the dam to go ahead. During the interview, the land was incorrectly referred to six times by the TWSP Chair and the show's host. The BSA noted the controversial nature of the dam project within the local community and the publicity around the Supreme Court's 2017 decision. 'We would have expected the broadcaster to have some understanding of the decision, and the significance of the land's status. 'The broadcast created a misleading impression about the land needed for the project as being stewardship land and having inferior conservation values. This undermined the public interest in the story as the audience did not have the benefit of being informed about the true status of the DOC land, to enable them to reach their own informed opinions. 'We therefore concluded the broadcast had the potential to cause harm which outweighed the broadcaster's freedom of expression and is significant enough to warrant our intervention.'
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Gold mine submissions open
A planned gold-mining operation north of Gore has taken another step forward, submissions having been called for on the project which aims to mine $170 million of gold and employ up to 30 people. Waikaka Gold Mines Ltd is seeking consent from the Gore District Council and Environment Southland to a operate a mine near Waikaka, and about 20km north of Gore. The company has also applied for the mine to be approved under the Fast-track Approvals Bill. The site was previously mined in the early 1900s, and an operator also mined to its south briefly in 2001. Results of site investigations indicate commercial feasibility. The project is looking to mine 95ha of land over eight years, at depths of 20m-40m below ground. a Production is estimated at 6000 ounces of gold per year. Four sections of the Waikaka Stream and Shepherds Creek would be diverted for a year, before being returned to their current alignment. Waikaia Gold Mines Ltd would also work to enhance the stream channels by restoring river banks with a higher proportion of native species and cobble substrate. Following the eight-year life of the mine, the company would undertake full rehabilitation of the mine site, returning it to a ''similar or improved state''. As a part of the application process, community submissions have been called for due to resource management regulations regarding land disturbance and change of use. Land-use consent is required for the construction of a mine pit and diversion of water in the region, alongside water and discharge permits for various processing and byproducts such as dust and treated water. Submissions, to both the Gore District Council and Environment Southland, have a deadline of June 16.
