Waitematā Local Board has expressed its disappointment that a resource consent application for the proposed National Erebus Memorial in one of its parks will not be publicly notified.
This week, the board was informed of the decision by an independent commissioner regarding Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s application for the proposed memorial in Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell.
“Given the high level of interest in this project we had formally requested the community be given the opportunity to provide feedback by publicly notifying the application, so we are obviously disappointed by the commissioner’s decision,” says local board chair Richard Northey.
In the decision document, the independent commissioner sets out in detail why the adverse effects on the environment are considered no more than minor, resulting in the decision to proceed on a non-notified basis.
A decision on the resource consent application is still pending and this decision will also be made by an independent commissioner.
For the project to proceed, the Ministry will still need landowner approval from Waitematā Local Board, which has the delegated authority to make decisions relating to activities and development within the park.
Only were resource consent to be granted and the Ministry wished to proceed with the memorial project in Dove-Myer Robinson Park would an application for landowner consent then come before Waitematā Local Board for a decision.
Mr Northey says currently there is no landowner consent application for the National Erebus Memorial before the board. If an application is received, the local board will need to consider all the information available to it, including this decision and feedback from the community during its own consultation process last year regarding the impacts the memorial would have on the park.
You can read the commissioner’s decision here.
Background
Waitematā Local Board gave approval in principle for the siting of the memorial at Dove-Myer Robinson Park in November 2018, subject to the memorial design accommodating/meeting several outcomes.
In February 2019, the Auckland Urban Design Panel reviewed the final designs and considered that the Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song memorial would work well within, and is appropriate to, the natural park setting.
On 17 September 2019, Waitematā Local Board heard from individual local residents and local community groups who sought the opportunity to have their say through a public consultation on the effects of the proposed memorial at Dove-Myer Robinson park.
In December 2019, Ministry deferred its application for landowner approval from the local board for the memorial to be sited in the park until it had obtained the necessary resource consent and Heritage New Zealand approvals
You can find out more about this work on the Ministry’s website.
