Backers of plan hesitant; They like the idea, but not if it's funded by the Turitea Wind Farm
At the Palmerston North City Council’s community well-being committee meeting this week, submitters to the Kahuterawa outdoor recreation draft plan responded positively to the proposal, which includes improving walking tracks and environmental management.
But while they liked the plan, many of the 36 submitters, of whom eight appeared in person, said they didn’t want the project to go ahead if it was funded by money raised through the council’s partnership with Mighty River Power.
Under the arrangement, the council will receive money for leasing land in the Turitea Reserve for a wind farm to be built. The project is currently going through the resource consent process.
Submitter Helen Harker: “I just find the two are totally incompatible. I don’t know how you’re going to pay for it anyway unless you get the turbines, in which case I’d rather not.”
But yesterday, council staff said the project would not be funded from wind farm revenue.
Chief executive Paddy Clifford said there seemed to be some confusion between this project and the proposed Eco Park.
In a consultation document when the council changed the Turitea Reserve status to allow wind farms, the Eco Park was put forward as an idea of how the money from a wind farm could be spent. Legally the money must be spent first on the Turitea Reserve, and secondly on other reserves.
But the Kahuterawa project was not the Eco Park, he said.
“They’re not too far apart physically, but they are separate.
“The Kahuterawa is planned to be funded out of our normal ratepayer funding.”
Many submitters were also worried about the proximity of the wind farms to the recreation area.
Paul Stichbury wrote that it would ruin the atmosphere.
“Should the wind farm installations go ahead, what is now a beautiful, natural environment will become an alien industrial nightmare, which far from attracting people to the area will have the opposite effect of repelling them.”
John Love had a different view though, arguing turbines on private land were up to the individuals.
“The Te Apiti Wind Farm has not destroyed the scenic beauty of the Manawatu Gorge. These turbines, some of which can be seen from the road, are graceful, eco-friendly, and keep the lights on sustainably.”
AT A GLANCE
The focus of the Kahuterawa outdoor recreation draft plan is to make it a place for people to enjoy, says Palmerston North City Council leisure assets planner, Aaron Phillips.
The area in question includes the 170-hectare Woodpecker Forest block, and is the plan is the cornerstone of the 2002 Outdoor Recreation Strategy.
Among the changes in the plan are:
* Improved walkways
* Mountain biking trails
* Biodiversity projects to restore native plants
* Improved roadways
While many submitters expressed concerns about the length of time the plan took to produce, the process was going as fast as it could, Mr Phillips said.
The council had to secure the Woodpecker block before making plans, and that process had taken a long time.
By Katie Chapman
15 October 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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