Stop the Tunnel recently made a submission about the Doc concession process to the local government and environment select committee, which has been discussing a petition containing more than 25,000 signatures from people opposing the tunnel. The response from the committee prompted the decision to send a letter to the Ombudsman, asking that the way Doc has handled the process be investigated, Stop the Tunnel member Trish Fraser said.
The letter was to be sent today, Ms Fraser said.
In late 2011, then Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson announced her intention to grant a concession to Milford Dart Ltd for the 11.6km commercial bus tunnel.
In a letter, chairwoman of the local government and environment select committee Nicky Wagner thanked the group for its submission and said ''we note that your group believes there is not a problem with the general concession process, except that there is no provision for the Department of Conservation to consider the impact on local communities''.
A Stop the Tunnel meeting was held on Saturday in Glenorchy, followed by a public meeting attended by Maryan Street, Labour spokeswoman for the environment and a member of the local government and environment select committee. Ms Fraser said the meeting attracted about 50 people, including holiday home owners and tourists.
''We discussed their [the select committee] response to the letter we sent, which was a poor response,'' Ms Fraser said.
''They had completely misunderstood our submission ... [and] we decided the next step is to go to the Ombudsman.
''We have run out of options.''
She said the group had concerns about Doc ''ignoring the democratic process and contradicting the advice of two management boards'', and other issues.
On behalf of Stop the Tunnel, Ms Fraser replied to Ms Wagner, saying the ''main focus'' of the group's submission appeared to have been overlooked.
''Whilst the 'usual' general concession application process is not at fault, the process used by Doc in considering the Milford Dart tunnel application has not followed 'usual' procedure,'' it said.
''Our letter ... itemises those ways in which we feel the process has been lacking ...
''Our request that Doc consider the impact on neighbouring communities is a subsidiary issue and not the main thrust of our submission.''
Conservation Minister Nick Smith is to make the final decision on the tunnel and the Fiordland Link Experience monorail and said he would visit ''affected areas'' after receiving reports from Doc.
