Council stormwater contractors are to be met by a protest when they commence work in Raglan’s Wainui Road on Monday 20th August.
Fred Lichtwark, Whaingaroa Harbour Care’s Manager and Waikato Regional Councillor, says he has organised the protest about his own council (Waikato Regional Council) allowing the Waikato District Council to undertake stormwater drainage work in Wainui Road. The protest will gather outside Raglan Museum at 12 noon.
Mr Lichtwark is calling the project a ‘stormwater downgrade’ and is asking for support from Whaingaroa people. He says the approval by WRC was given with no regard for water quality that is discharging on to shellfish beds that people eat.
The stormwater discharge consent was granted by Waikato Regional Council to the Waikato District Council (WDC) in 2008. Condition 32 of the consent AUTH105646 requires WDC to establish and retain a Tangata Whenua and Key Stakeholder Liaison Group (TWKSG) for the duration of the consent.
Mt Lichtwark has circulated a letter dated 16th August 2018 from WRC to WDC which states that WDC has not always complied with the requirement to have a liaison group. The letter from Hugh Keane, WRC’s Infrastructure Team Leader, goes on to say that non-compliance with this condition in the 2016/2017 compliance year is disappointing, and Mr Keane suspects this has contributed to the concerns expressed by some Raglan community members around a lack of consultation and input into the current Wainui Road culvert upgrade project.
The letter ends by saying that WRC wants to ensure that WDC is fully aware that not complying with this condition means that discharges that would otherwise have been authorised by the consent, were in fact unlawful. WRC has decided at this stage not to take more formal enforcement action in relation to this particular breach, however it is the Waikato Regional Council’s expectation that in future WDC will fully comply with all the requirements of AUTH105646 so that full compliance is achieved.