A Clarifying Update by Diane Strugnell

Many of you will have read in the Dominion Post or on the internet the  article with the headline   "Council calls halt to Belmont wind farm"

It has been very pleasing to know that a lot of people care enough to contact us with congratulatory phone calls.  The disappointing thing is to have to let people know that the article is misleading and in places entirely incorrect.

The headline itself is misleading for it implies that the Belmont wind farm is being halted.  Belmont Regional Park is one of three sites that the Wellington Regional Council chose for a possible wind farm - the others being Mount Climie  and Puketiro.

Mount Climie was put to one side at the outset as being too environmentally sensitive.  This left Puketiro and Belmont.  Belmont was considered more complex so the regional council decided to start with the Puketiro wind farm at Pauatahanui - leading to the formation of the two groups Preserve Pauatahanui and Pauatahanui Futures.  I will come back to Puketiro shortly but to continue with the Belmont story and that headline.

If the small print is read one will see that the statements are inconclusive "The plug is set to be pulled" - NB the plug has not actually been  pulled!! and "A report by GWRC recommends...."  I attended the council meeting at which the report was presented and discussed and no decision was made except that the report would be "left on the table". 

The issues cited by the council included

• the potential generating capacity of wind farms either under development or proposed for the Wgtn area has increased (West Wind, Mill Creek and Long Gully are possibly being referred to)
• the added complexity of multiple landowners at Belmont (Hutt City, DOC and the regional council are all owners of the land in question)
  
• legal issues that remain uncertain (the regional council had a legal opinion last year that indicated that a wind farm was "inconsistent" with a regional park)
  
• concern over cumulative effects and visual impact has arisen (they note here the issues raised by Project Hayes-Mahinerangi with a distance between them of 15km while the distance between Belmont and Puketiro would be 6km - or less if some private land is included)
  

The report concluded that to progress any further with the Belmont wind farm would be "quite challenging at this time" which has led to the moratorium recommendation - which has been "left on the table" i.e. no decision yet!!

Now to the reference to Puketiro which is 'hidden' in the article.  The article notes that permission for 3 turbines has been revoked "because of a boundary error" - noting in the full press release that the 'working boundary' of the park "did not align with the legal boundary".  There has never been "a boundary error", a fact blatantly obvious by the inclusion of the titles associated with Battle Hill Farm Forest Park in the contact between RES (developer) and the council. 

The status of Battle Hill Farm Forest Park and its proposed use for turbines and access has been the basis of the Judicial Review being sought by Pauatahanui Futures Society, with support from Preserve Pauatahanui and members of the wider Pauatahanui community.

It is also interesting to note in the full press release (available on GWRC's website), following the statement that they have revoked three turbines, is the statement "Permission will also be issued to extend the numbers of turbines proposed for construction in the Akatarawa Forest."  (The proposed Puketiro wind farm is within the boundaries of the council-owned Battle Hill, Puketiro and Akatarawa forests) Truly a case of "giving with one hand and taking with the other"!!

Battle Hill was the site of a battle between local Maori and British troops in 1846 and one of our signs says "1846 The last fight for Battle Hill - Yeah Right"

So thank you to those who have contacted us with support ..... but the battle continues.