The resource consent application by Kaipara Limited to extract sand off Pakiri Beach has been postponed.

The purpose of the adjournment was primarily to enable the council’s reporting team and the applicant, Kaipara Limited, time to consider how long they would need prepare their written response and subsequent right of reply.

A response from the applicant, submitters and council is expected by no later than Friday, June 4th.

Kaipara Limited have released a memo outlining two potential pathways to conclude the hearing.

The shorter pathway follows the usual hearing process. When all submitters have been heard, only the council reporting team and the applicant would have the opportunity to respond and reply to the submissions and the evidence that has been presented by submitters.

The longer approach suggests Kaipara Limited and council working together and that it would therefore be appropriate for council to oversee a further bathymetric survey of the two extraction areas approved under the existing consent. 

This would leave no part of the area un-surveyed. Upon completion of that survey, it would be appropriate for the council to have “...an opportunity to independently comment on the results of the survey as part of its reply”.

The advantage of a further bathymetric survey and analysis is that it may provide the commissioners with better information for assessing the relevance of allegations of past conduct under Kaipara’s existing consent. 

A disadvantage is that in order to undertake the survey itself, there would need to be additional delays before the hearing can be reconvened. The exact time frames are difficult to establish at this stage but are likely to be in the vicinity of at least two months. 

Based on the current information, the hearing panel supports the longer pathway approach to enable them to be best informed before they deliberate on the merits of the application.

Kaipara proposes that this would also be an appropriate date for the Department of Conservation to file any response it wishes to make.