Environment Defence Society Claims Aid Will Not Be Available

 

 

While Parliament and political pundits.junkies bore the social media-verse over Judith Collins and spilt milk I caught this release from the Environment Defence Society on aid not being available for the Unitary Plan Hearings.

From Voxy

Govt refuses environmental legal aid for Auckland – EDS

Wednesday, 12 March, 2014 – 15:06

The Environmental Defence Society has released a letter from the Secretary for the Environment confirming that the Environmental Legal Aid Fund will not be available to Aucklanders for the Unitary Plan process.

The ELA Fund is available nationally to assist groups to hire legal and resource management experts for Environment Court appeals.

“We thought that environmental legal aid should be available for the Auckland plan process because under the special Auckland legislation, there is only one hearing by a panel with no normal rights of appeal to the Environment Court,” said EDS Chairman Gary Taylor.

“We wrote to the Ministry and to the Minister for the Environment late last year and set out the reasons for making the fund available for Auckland. We noted that it was approved for the one-stop hearings on the Canterbury plan and that fairness demanded that Auckland should be treated the same.

“In his response, the Secretary for the Environment, Dr Paul Reynolds, said his expectation was that the focus of the decision-making process would be on consultation and mediation, rather than on litigation.

“This is a somewhat lame response since the consultation phase on the draft plan is now complete so is not an issue, and the ELA Fund could be used to support mediation on the Auckland plan in a similar manner to the way it has funded Environment Court mediation for other plans. In addition, the one-stop hearing process is not “litigation” but rather an inquiry by an independent panel into the merits of the Plan.

“Given that Government has said it won’t help, we think that the Auckland Council should give some careful thought to how it can support communities to effectively engage in the hearing process so we get focused, quality inputs that save time and help achieve the best possible outcome.

“This should at least involve provision of a “Friends of Submitters” facility – one or more experts who would advise on how to effectively engage in the plan-making process. Council should also consider creating an Environmental Legal Aid fund of its own, for qualifying groups, so that they are able to engage expert advisers.

“Finally, EDS has received many requests from community and environmental groups for advice on the plan-making process in Auckland. We have run some well-attended workshops, but do not have capacity to provide further support ourselves, since our RMA Advice Service funding was cut by the Ministry for the Environment last year.

“We will however be making a substantive input into the Auckland Plan process ourselves,” Mr Taylor concluded.

—-ends—-

 

Hmm still digesting over this release but initial thoughts on why litigation and a possible subsequent need of aid for the Hearings part of the Unitary Plan process – especially when a key theme is dialogue and mediation (see Unitary Plan Update for further information). I do understand that such aid would be required if Court hearings (on points of law) were to proceed due to an appeal of the Hearing Panel recommendations but not the Hearings itself.

In saying that I can think of only two occasions during the Hearings Panel where such Environment Aid might be required. That be Section 1 of the Unitary Plan if you are planing to contest the Regional Policy Statement (something I have no inclination of doing myself), or Section 3 which had all the Development Controls in it (something I did submit on for residential zones and the Super Metropolitan Centre zone). I do not see the requirement for aid for Section 2 which was the Zone Objectives and Policies (which I did submit heavily on in altering residential zones and introducing the Super Metropolitan Centre Zone) unless someone gets really anal about it and dialogue really breaks down.

I did note this from the presser: ““This should at least involve provision of a “Friends of Submitters” facility – one or more experts who would advise on how to effectively engage in the plan-making process”

Well they did for private individuals run one on one sessions between the individual and NZ Planning Institute planners to check the robustness of our submissions. I used the service and was quite pleased with it as it helped tighten my submission up considerably. So I wonder if Council will have such a service running again.

 

Also I was providing assistance to others with their Unitary Plan submissions and will be doing so again in the next submission round in May. I am not an RMA lawyer but do have a grasp over the bulk of the Unitary Plan especially around Section Two (Objectives and Policies) which in the end dictates the rest of the Unitary Plan including the Development Controls in Section 3. The methodology I used was forget the entire Unitary Plan just pick the most two important bits that either affect you directly or if inclined a directional setting for Auckland development over the next 30 years. From there we start looking at one’s submission and how to best put it across plain and simple. The Unitary Plan might be complex but your submission need not be. So long as the points for the Commissioners are clear and concise you are well on the way to presenting your case on either how the Unitary Plan affects you or the outline on how Auckland develops.

 

We will see if Council responds later on in whether it will extend support services again as the second submission period and later hearings kick off

 

My Submission to the Unitary Plan