A lobby group has got in behind the call for the Gore District Council to halt the delivery of its new district plan.
The Taxpayers Union released a statement last week saying it supported the call for the district plan to be put on hold.
More than 100 local businesses and major property owners have called on the council to halt the plan, saying it is inconsistent with a directive from central government to do away with "nice-to-haves".
Last month, at the last council meeting of the year, the council decided to seek legal advice and was set to make a decision about the plan in a meeting next month.
The letter writers wished for the plan to be put on hold as central government was making changes which were contrary to what the new district council plan was introducing.
The letter said the council had spent $3 million on the plan for what many people had described as the most restrictive and ambitious plan in Southland’s history.
It was irresponsible of the council to put costs on the ratepayer when the government was considering changes to the Resource Management Act and national policy statements, the letter said.
It called the council relentless in its pursuit of a plan which would be obsolete and required further changes.
The letter asked for a pause of nine months, by which point there should be a clearer direction from the government.
The current plan was made operative in 2006 and was overdue for review.
The review of the plan commenced in June 2020 and hearings began in June last year and are scheduled to go until April this year.
The council has to deliver the plan by August this year.
It was unclear whether the council could delay proceedings past this date without special permission by Local Government Minister Simeon Brown.
Pausing the process would be at a cost to the council and submitters, some of whom had their own advisers, consultants and lawyers.
Council chief executive Deborah Lascelles said the council needed more time to understand in detail what its costs would be. They were likely to be at least $500,000.
Taxpayers Union local government campaigns manager Sam Warren acknowledged the district plan was well overdue for an update but said it would be entirely irresponsible to release a plan if it was already at odds with central government.
"In December, minister Simeon Brown announced a raft of change for the new year. While pausing for another nine months would have cost implications for Gore District Council, it would allow time for the new, more sensible direction to be made clear,"
he said.
"Considerable resources have gone into the plan so far, but if the plan is already outdated on its release and doesn’t follow the more sensible approach towards council spending set out by the minister, it will only end up costing Gore residents more in the long run.
"Gore District Council has already stung its residents with an average rates increase of 21.4% this last year alone — one of the highest in the country. It’s clear more thought needs to be given on how it can make better spending decisions. If the new government directive can better guide council in this space, it’s certainly worth waiting just a little bit longer for."
