Christchurch, not Twizel, will now be the venue for the bulk of hearings into 126 applications to take water from the upper Waitaki catchment, most for irrigation.
The applications, some more than five years old, have been lodged by 35 applicants with Environment Canterbury (ECan) and have been on hold after the Government decided in 2004 to have a water allocation plan prepared for the catchment under pressure from the now-defunct Project Aqua power scheme proposed by Meridian Energy Ltd.
The allocation plan was finalised in 2005 and ECan started processing the applications to renew existing water rights or for new takes.
ECan started in 2007 by hearing applications made by Meridian for its north bank tunnel concept power scheme, followed by those for the joint Meridian Energy Ltd-South Canterbury Irrigation Trust Hunter Downs irrigation scheme in Waimate then, late last year, 56 applications to use water from the lower Waitaki River below the Waitaki dam.
The lower Waitaki applications were heard in Oamaru.
In September, the hearings panel will start considering the consent applications above the Waitaki dam.
Originally, ECan proposed to have the bulk of the upper catchment hearings in Twizel, starting from September 21.
However, chairman of the hearings panel, former Environment Court judge Prof Peter Skelton, of Christchurch, has bowed to requests by some submitters for a change of venue.
They asked it be moved to Christchurch because of the costs involved in going to Twizel, including getting witnesses to and from there, and accommodation.
The request was made at a pre-hearing conference in Twizel last month and Prof Skelton released his decision last week.
He said that normally a hearing would be held at a venue as close as convenient to the place or places subject to consent applications.
"On that basis, I expressed the view that the hearings should be at Twizel," he said.
However, he had since decided to accede to the request to hold the bulk of the hearings in Christchurch.
His reason was because the costs of hearings were borne by the applicants, including the panel's costs.
"While these are likely to be quite high whichever venue is chosen, I believe they will be considerably higher if the venue were to be Twizel, given that all counsel would be coming from quite a distance, as well as the bulk of witnesses and several of the submitters and their witnesses," he said.
Any submitter who wanted to be heard in Twizel should notify ECan staff as soon as possible.
