Council overreach
Some tales simply need to be instructed and re-told.
The Earnscleugh homestead saga, the place the house owners restored a crumbling, uninhabitable constructing to its former glory is a tribute to unrelenting tenacity and huge overreach by the native authority.
The truth is, the true story is just not a lot the restoration/rebuild however council resolution to place the house owners by the bureaucratic grinder by the general public notification course of, when even the Historic Locations Belief agreed with the house owners’ plans.
There have been 98 submissions — everybody in favour of the proprietor’s restoration plans.
That’s till the council’s paid advisor mentioned “no”.
She or he wished the unfinished look to stay.
By no means thoughts the leaking partitions and roof.
It seems the advisor even bought the story behind the interior separation of the homestead unsuitable.
The prices blew out with the listening to alone costing the candidates $150,000.
The chance value attributable to council delay is huge.
Why did the council request public submissions if the council can willingly disregard public opinion?
Don’t councillors signify public opinion?
I now name on the mayor to substantiate the above info is right.
Additionally, will mayor Tamah Alley now publicly apologise to the house owners of the constructing and provide to compensate/refund the price of the listening to as a gesture of belated goodwill?.
Gerry Eckhoff
Alexandra
Response from Central Otago mayor Tamah Alley:
The Earnscleugh Homestead is, above all else, a real success story.
A Class 1 heritage constructing that was near being misplaced has been restored and given a future.
A number of claims in Mr Eckhoff’s letter are incorrect.
As a Class 1 heritage-listed constructing, any vital work required useful resource consent beneath the district plan.
The choice to publicly notify the applying was not discretionary or political; it was a statutory requirement beneath the Useful resource Administration Act after an impartial heritage professional concluded the consequences of the proposal, as lodged, had been greater than minor.
Public submissions will not be a referendum.
Choices are made by hearings panel commissioners making use of the regulation and professional proof.
Suggesting council disregarded public opinion essentially misunderstands how the method works.
Council waived its personal processing charges in step with coverage.
The $150,000 referenced pertains to the applicant’s personal listening to prices, not council charges.
The consent was processed inside statutory timeframes, noting intervals when it was positioned on maintain on the applicant’s request.
There isn’t any foundation for compensation.
The actual story stays the excellent restoration of an irreplaceable heritage constructing, for which the house owners deserve full credit score.
I’m thrilled for Marco and Ryan and what they’ve achieved, not just for their very own household residence, however for the broader material of the Central Otago group.
