Pomahaka Water Care Group project manager Lloyd McCall said the council needed to pave the way for projects that served the public good.
“Right now there are too many roadblocks in the road,” he said.
Otago regional councillors heard submissions to their 2021-31 long-term plan in Dunedin, Queenstown and via video conferencing in the first day of two days of hearings yesterday.
The planned restoration of 9ha of drained wetlands on an Otago dairy farm to as close as possible to what was there 50 years ago became a flashpoint for the catchment group and the council after costs ballooned to $20,000 for consents.
The catchment group and the council this month agreed to a significantly lower, but undisclosed, price tag to approve the work.
Projects such as wetland restoration served the public good, but were not getting done because of public apprehension about consent-related costs, catchment group member Craig Simpson said.
It was difficult to say how many similar projects were not going ahead because of the perceived council roadblocks, he said.
