Southdown Holdings Ltd, Williamson Holdings Ltd and Five Rivers Ltd, which had plans to develop 16 new dairy farms with up to 17,850 cows, confirmed on Thursday night they hade decided to withdraw resource consent applications to store and discharge dairy effluent on three properties they own or have contracted to buy.
The companies, which say they have already spent $4 million in clearing the land and on hearings and scientific analysis, said the $3 million cost of going through a board of inquiry Resource Management Act (RMA) process, without knowing whether they had water for irrigating the farms and diluting the effluent, was too much of a risk.
However, if water is granted, the companies could still reapply for the effluent resource consents. That prompted opponents yesterday to warn the developments may not yet be over.
Omarama Residents' Association chairman Bill Gordon was not surprised by the withdrawal of the effluent applications.
The people in Omarama he spoke to yesterday were "quietly relieved" the potential threat to established tourism income had "gone for the meantime".
"If the alternative for the developers is some form of farming traditional to the area, such as sheep, beef and some crop, then that seems acceptable. The nutrient output to the environment from that is a sustainable fraction of that from dairying," he said.
Omarama farmer and North Otago Federated Farmers high country representative Simon Williamson was not surprised by the companies' decision.
"I always felt it [the development] wasn't going to happen. They did not do the science robust enough to warrant getting consents," he said.
The RMA process had been "really good".
"That's what it is there for, to make sure people don't do something wrong. Once something is done, it is difficult to undo it. Everyone has the chance to put their case forward," he said.
While Mr Williamson accepted the companies could reapply for the effluent consents, he believed it was "the start of the end".
The Ohau Protection Society, representing Ohau, Twizel and Omarama people, is "quite happy" with the companies' decision but is adopting a "wait and see" approach.
Spokesman Scott Aronsen said: "Excuse the pun, but there's a lot more water to go under the bridge. The companies are still pursuing water [for the farms]."
The society was still pursuing issues associated with those water applications and would be in a position to "pick up tools" if the companies reapplied for effluent consents.
Mr Aronsen said the three companies had been victims of their own process and should have waited until decisions were made on the water applications before pursuing the effluent consents.
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, who last year described the dairy farms as "factory farming", said the companies' decision was a victory for the green movement, but "the battle is not over yet".
There were still further challenges.
"The applicants, and many others, are still proceeding with their applications to take water for irrigation in the upper Waitaki, so that many tens of thousands of dairy cows can appear on the landscape," he said.
More action was needed from the Government to protect the region's iconic landscape, including a national policy statement that provided a plan for the whole region rather than ad hoc decisions, he said.
